President Thabo Mbeki, Chairman of the Board
Distinguished Members of the Board
Representatives of the Council
Excellencies
It is a great honour to participate at the 26th Council of Representatives of the South Centre this evening. I join the other Member States to congratulate the Chairman, Members of the Board, Executive Director and the Secretariat of the South Centre for their tireless commitment to continue the work of the Centre in this challenging multilateral environment.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) was signed on 30 October 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Hon. Speakers,
Hon. Members of Parliament,
distinguished guests,
ladies and gentlemen,
To begin with, I feel deeply honored and privileged to be in this wonderful city, the second biggest city of Switzerland, representing my delegation. It is a great pleasure for me to address the 151st IPU Assembly today. I wish to thank the Honorable Chairpersons and Speakers, the Honorable Members of the IPU, and the organizers of this event for their tremendous efforts in ensuring the success of this prestigious gathering. Today’s IPU Assembly provides a timely platform for strengthening cooperation among democracies.
Mr. Chair,
Madam Secretary-General,
Excellencies, Colleagues,
Sri Lanka is pleased to join this Ministerial Meeting and fully aligns with the Declaration just adopted. We thank you, Mr. Chair, for your leadership and commend the unity of our Group at this critical juncture.
Mr. President,
Madam Secretary-General of UNCTAD,
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
It is a great honour for Sri Lanka to speak at this important UNCTAD XVI Conference. I thank the Government and people of Switzerland for hosting us in this historic city of Geneva, where UNCTAD was born over 60 years ago.
Ambassador Suon Prasith President, Excellencies and colleagues,
We express condolences on the passing away of Her Excellency Ana Cecilia Gervasi Diaz, Ambassador of Peru.
Mr President,
Ambassador A.L. Abdul Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva recently chaired a panel at the Debt Management Conference organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This conference, which is organized every two years by the UNCTAD provides a regular forum for sharing experiences and exchanging views between Governments, international organizations, academia, the private sector, and civil society on current issues in public finance, debt management and the debt crisis prevention.
This year’s Debt Management Conference brought together senior-level national and international debt managers and experts from around the world to discuss some of the most pertinent topics in both external and domestic debt, debt management and public finance.
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