Sri Lanka believes that in the settlement of international disputes, action must be based on the fundamental principle of sovereign equality of states, a principle firmly enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, stated Professor G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs in his address yesterday to the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly. He regretted that the noticeable recent tendency to selectively and arbitrarily intervene in the internal affairs of States flies in the face of this principle, and dilutes the confidence so carefully nurtured in the UN system.
Dealing with the challenge of the global financial crisis, Minister Peiris emphasized that it is of the greatest importance to ensure that any strategies employed to achieve recovery, do not impose unjustifiable burdens on developing countries, as they strive to achieve better living conditions for their people. He stressed that a recovery without uplifting the developing countries simultaneously will be unsustainable. In this context, he regretted that it is paradoxical that it is the same countries where the financial crisis originated, which now seek to provide policy prescriptions to others. While observing that the voices of developing countries are an important element to this end, he stressed that there cannot be a “one size fits all” approach, and therefore the views of all and the experiences of the successful, especially the newly emerging economies, must be taken into account.
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