It seems some things are foreign to some officials in the Foreign Ministry in Colombo.
This week, its website – the official portal of the Ministry – made Sri Lankans believe there was an All Party Group from Britain visiting the country. This is what it said:
“A four member delegation of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Sri Lanka (APPG-SL) in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, is currently visiting Sri Lanka at the invitation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The visit commenced on 3rd January 2018 and will conclude on Monday 8th January.
“The delegation is led by the Rt. Hon. Ranil Jayawardena, MP, Chairman of the APPG-SL and includes the Rt. Hon. Michelle Donelan, MP, the Rt. Hon. Chris Green, MP and the Rt. Hon. John Lamont, MP….” The ministry release has made every British MP a Right Honourable (Rt.Hon.) It is not only that. This group of four MPs is being touted as representatives of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka.
By Gad Sir, to use diplomatic parlance it is a terminological inexactitude or as Pukka Sahib might say, “It’s just balderdash, what”. All four are members of the Conservative Party whereas the APPG on Sri Lanka has as Vice Chairs the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, Ulster Unionists and Democratic Unionist Party (of Northern Ireland)
So to describe this as a delegation of the APPG is surely to mislead
A Sri Lankan man was apprehended at Suvarnabhumi airport for attempting to smuggle wildlife out of the country after three ball pythons were found hidden in his underwear, the Bangkok post reported.
The UK government has unveiled a package of reforms to simplify imports from developing countries which allows for more garments manufactured in Sri Lanka to enter the UK tariff-free.
Read these and more on tomorrow’s edition of the Sunday Times
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