Chair
Director General,
Thank you for giving me the floor.
At the outset allow me to convey Sri Lanka’s deep appreciation to IOM for its solidarity and rapid humanitarian support in the aftermath of the destructive cyclone Ditwah which devastated Sri Lanka last month, causing huge loss of life and vast scale damage to property, and infrastructure.
As multiple global crises and challenges continue to compel migration within and across borders, we are witnessing increased hostility against migration compounded by misguided and damaging narratives. In contrast, safe, orderly and regular migration brings many fold opportunities for all, benefitting migrants, countries of origin and destination.
Sri Lanka emphasizes the continued relevance of international migration governance, providing the framework for regular migration. In this context, the strategic leadership of IOM in the framework of international migration governance remains critical, more than ever.
Sri Lanka takes this opportunity to commend the proactive approach of IOM in ensuring the effective implementation of its mandate, and the strategic objectives. At a time where deliberate attempts are made to weaken multilateralism, and multilateral institutions are burdened with severe liquidity crisis, Sri Lanka appreciates the IOM’s sustained and innovative efforts to address these impacts, in close consultation with member states.
As a longstanding partner Sri Lanka is pleased to have contributed to the IOM Resilience Fund aimed at preserving its core capacity and structure.
Chair
Promoting safe, orderly, regular and rights-based migration remains a priority for Sri Lanka. The Government’s commitment is manifested through several progressive policies, and initiatives have been implemented nationally to safeguard the migrants and their families, ensuring their welfare, including through the recent national Budget for 2026.
We deeply value our long-standing constructive partnership with IOM. At IOM’s invitation, Sri Lanka joined the GCM Champion initiative in April 2025. Recognizing the evolving migration dynamics and Sri Lanka’s status as a GCM Champion Country, a new National GCM Implementation Plan for 2026–2028 is currently being developed through a series of multi-stakeholder consultations. Further, the Migration and SDGs Monitoring Platform (MSMP), a new digital tool to track migration’s contribution to the SDGs, was launched by the Government of Sri Lanka in November 2025. These measures aim at strengthening our migration governance framework and contribute to the achievement of SDGs.
As the 2nd IMRF approaches Sri Lanka looks forward to being engaged in this process. In conclusion, we reiterate our commitment to continued collaboration with IOM to promote our common objectives furthering migration governance benefitting all.
Thank you.