Secretary Generals of UN and Commonwealth praise Sri Lanka

Colombo (News1st): The Commonwealth Secretary-General and United Nations Secretary-General have praised Sri Lanka’s progress in strengthening democracy and reconciliation. President Maithripala Sirisena who in New York for the United Nations General Assembly held talks with the Commonwealth Secretary-General and United Nations Secretary-General. President Sirisena briefed United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres about Sri Lanka’s progress in strengthening democracy, rule of law, media freedom and reconciliation during a meeting in New York. The President said that during the last three and a half years, the country has made progress on many fronts. Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland praised Sri Lanka’s progress in strengthening democracy and reconciliation adding Sri Lanka’s progress in many fields are appreciable. She said that Sri Lanka’s resilience was greatly evident from the restoration of normalcy quickly after the Tsunami disaster in 2004 and many countries could take lessons from Sri Lanka’s success story. She said the Commonwealth would continue to extend support to Sri Lanka’s efforts towards development and reconciliation. She added the Commonwealth could assist Sri Lanka to enhance negotiating skills on bilateral trade and investment negotiations under the proposed Commonwealth Best Practices Framework. President Sirisena said Sri Lanka considered eradication of illegal drugs and climate change as major challenges and asked the Commonwealth to expand activities in these areas.