Visit of the Ambassador to the Gomel State Medical University
22 November, 2009
The Ambassador Udayanga Weeratunga visited Gomel State Medical University where a lot of Sri Lankan students have been studying for years. Special words of thanks were addressed to Professor Anatoly Lizikov, the Chancellor of the University, who cares about our foreigner students in Belorussia.
Ceylon and Russian Chambers of Commerce signed an agreement
11 November, 2009
In the presence of H.E. Mr. Udayanga Weeratunga, Ambassador of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation, the Agreement on cooperation in the business information exchange, was signed by Mr. Georgy G. Petrov, Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, on the 11th November 2009 at a special meeting held at the Russian Chamber of Commerce & Industry and on behalf of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Mr. J.D Bandaranayake, Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has signed the agreement.
Mr. P.A.S Ponnamperuma, Commercial Secretary and Ms. Anna Korolkova, the Tourism Promotion Assistant of the Embassy also represented the Sri Lanka side at the event. Mr. Nikolay I. Alexandrov, Chief Expert of the Department of International Cooperation, Mr. Sergey G. Kharitonov, Director, Business Information Department, and Ms. Legchilina Tatyana Victorovna, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department represented the Russian Chamber of Commerce.
By signing the agreement both chambers agreed to exchange the business information among the two institutions for the mutual benefit of the members of both chambers.
During the meeting, Mr. Petrov, expressed that this agreement is a demonstration of the effective cooperation between the two chambers and the Russian Chamber of Commerce is always prepared to give the maximum support to promote Sri Lankan products and services in the Russian market.
Mr. Udayanga Weeratunga, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka expressed the gratitude of the government of Sri Lankan and people to the Russian Federation in assisting to resolve the internal conflict in Sri Lanka.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Hon. S.Lavrov visited Sri Lanka
26 October, 2009
Foreign Affairs Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey V. Lavrov, arrived Sri Lanka on October 26 for a one-day visit, which led to the renewal of the 51 years long diplomatic and friendly relationship between both countries – Lanka and Russian. The Russian Foreign Minister pledged that the Russian Federation will be always on the side of Sri Lanka, if in case the international community initiate any covetous move to charge Sri Lanka on any war related crimes.
The Russian Foreign Affairs Minister’s visit was expressed as a historic moment, as it was the first ever diplomatic level visit of a Russian Foreign Minister to Sri Lanka. The Russian Foreign Minister held discussions with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his counterpart – Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, before his departure.
Sri Lanka was capable to face any international pressure on alleged war crimes or any other problems as it had a proper judicial system and the Russian government had always supported the Sri Lankan government to protect its national integrity. We supported Sri Lanka to fight against terrorism and to bring peace, visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov said at a press conference held at the Foreign Ministry.
This was the first occasion a Russian Foreign Minister visited Sri Lanka during the history of 52 years of diplomatic ties between Russia and Sri Lanka relations. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said both countries had strengthened the mutual relations and friendship and had discussed bilateral issues on economic, investment, trade, tourism, illicit traffic of narcotics and drugs as well as urgent international issues.
Russia also would continue to assist practically in the de-mining process by sending a team of de-mining experts and humanitarian assistance, the visiting Foreign Minister said.
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Sri Lanka was grateful for the cooperation and support given by Russia in the international forums and both countries held discussions on vital international issues.
Russia remained a friend to our country and we expect to strengthen the existing ties in the fields of economic, trade cooperation, investment, oil explorations, cultural, sports and international relations. An agreement on cooperation to suppress illicit traffic in and abuse of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances was signed at the Foreign Ministry Colombo by the Russian Ambassador and officials of the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry.
Sri Lanka successfully negotiates a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the Russia
16th – 18th September, 2009
The second round of bilateral negotiations was held in Moscow from 16 – 18 September 2009 between the Delegations of Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation in order to conclude a bilateral treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the two countries. During negotiations, the two sides exchanged views on current developments relating to enhanced cooperation on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and emphasized the need to cooperate at the international, regional and bilateral levels, in particular in the combating of international terrorism and organized crime.
At the end of the three day negotiations, the two sides initialed an Agreed text of a mutual legal assistance Treaty in criminal matters.
An eleven member Russian delegation was led by Mr. Kirichenko Yuri, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation and included representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, the General Prosecutor’s Office and of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
The Sri Lankan delegation was led by Mr. Priyasath Dep, P.C. Solicitor General and consisted of HE Udayanga Weeratunga, Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Moscow, Mrs. Kamalini de Silva, Addl. Secretary of the Ministry of Justice & Law Reforms, Mrs. Nelum Mayadunne Bandara, Actg. Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Parinda Ranasinghe, Senior State Counsel of the Attorney General’s Department.
Sri Lanka has recently concluded several bilateral mutual legal assistance treaties in the context of combating serious international crimes such as those relating to terrorism and narcotic trafficking. The current text which was successfully negotiated in Moscow, is due to be signed between Hon. Rohitha Bogollagama, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Foreign Minister during latter’s forthcoming visit to Sri Lanka in October 2009.
Ambassador presents his credentials to the Foreign Minister of the Uzbekistan
31 August, 2009
The Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russian Federation accredited to the Republic of Uzbekistan, Udayanga Weeratunga presented his letter of credentials to Foreign Minister Norov Vladimir Imamovich of Uzbekistan on 30th August 2009 in Tashkent. After the ceremony, Minister Imamovich congratulated the Sri Lankan Government on the defeat of terrorism and the reunification of the motherland.
He further stated that the Republic of Uzbekistan will strengthen their relationship with Sri Lanka for the benefit of both countries in terms of stability, security and development.
Meeting for Association of Russian Tour Operators (ATOR) at the Embassy
02 July, 2009
General Meeting of Association of Russian Tour Operators (ATOR) took place at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Moscow on 02.07.2009. This is the first time such a meeting was held outside of their usual place. ATOR is the non-government organization which was founded on 18th of January 2007 by the main Russian tour operators. There are more than 50 members of the Group at the moment from different regions of Russia. They accumulate 70% of volume of the Russian travel market.
Ambassador of Sri Lanka Udayanga Weeratunga delivered the keynote addressed and short note about Sri Lanka hot spots and mentioned that the recent victory brought a great opportunity for tourism industry and year 2011 was declared as “Visit Sri Lanka“. Ambassador explained the developing opportunity of Eastern and Northern provinces together with Sri Lankan plans to increase the number of tourist up to 2.5 million of people in 2016.
There were over 30 members from TEZ Tour, Intaer, Astravel, Intourist, Russian Express, Valtex Travel, Lanta-Tur Voyage, Paraisol, KMP Group, Megapolus Group, Startravel, Russian Railways Tours, Solvex Tour, Neva, Capital Tour, Inna Tour, Biblio-Globus, ITC Group, UTS Travel, BSI group, VKO Group, ICS Group, Coral Travel, Pegas Touristic, Natalie Tours, Space Travel, Express Line Travel, S7 Tour, Sunmar, Spectrum Travel, Pac Group.
AGEM commenced with the lightning of the traditional lamp and at the end of the meeting Ambassador hosted a dinner. Ambassador expressed his perfect willingness to support the unified Russian tour operator’s standards and wished prosperity to all members of Association. Finally, Sri Lankan Tea ceremony was conducted and all guests were presented with the best Sri Lankan tea from the Ambassador.
Ambassador visited the Kursk State Medical University
16 May, 2009
We should salute the commanders and the members of the Armed Forces for their valiant efforts and sacrifices made to defeat the ruthless group of terrorists and for their great humanitarian civilian rescue operation that the Armed Forces conducted with sympathy for the helpless civilians of the North. This was the part of the speech made by Ambassador Weeraunga when he participated as a Chief Guest for the Kursk State Medical University’s Special Reception and cultural show -Sinhavalokana- of the Sri Lankan students.
Kursk Medical Academy situated 600 km from the Moscow town and more than 225 Sri Lankan students studying in this university. Ambassador met Rector of the Kursk Medical Academy Prof. Viktor Lazarenko and other department heads and discussed about the problems and difficulties of the Sri Lankan students and got the first hand information from the University authorities. Further Ambassador Weeratunga informed about the current and latest situation in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan government is working on dozens of projects, using about one third of the budget in financing, although that number constantly shifts as new sources of projects are identified. Work has already begun to restore the electric, water, and sanitation infrastructure. The first phase of reconstruction providing emergency supplies of water and humanitarian aid. Also Ambassador said that it took soldiers to win the war, but it will take engineers to win the peace, therefore Sri Lankan government already started the construction and rehabilitation process in the Northern Province. Special cultural show organized by Sri Lankan students received huge reception from the Russian and participants. Cultural items of all nationalities in Sri Lanka showed the unity and the talents of the Sri Lankan students. Next day Ambassador Weeraunga had the special meeting with Sri Lankan students and discussed about the hostel facilities and other educational matters.
රුසියානු ජනතා මිත්රත්ව විශ්ව විද්යාලයේ, ලාංකික සිසු සිසුවියන් හමුවීම
12th November, 2008
නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ 12 වැනිදා රුසියානු සමුහාණ්ඩුව ශ්රී ලංකා තානාපති ගරු උදයංග වීරතුංග මැතිතුමා රුසියානු ජනතා මිත්රත්ව විශ්ව විද්යාලයේ, ලාංකික සිසු සිසුවියන් සමඟ හමුවීමට අවස්ථාව උදාවිය. තානාපති ඔවුන්ගේ අනාගත බොහෝ ජයග්රහණ වලට සුබපැතු අතර සාර්ථකව අවසන් වූ රජයේ විභාගය ඉදිරිපත් වෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටියේය..
ශ්රී ලංකාවට අලුතින් පත්කල රුසියානු තානාපති ව්ලැඩිමීර් මෙහයිලොව් ජනපති හමුවේ
09 නොවැම්බර් 2008
අතිගරු ජනාදිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා මෙරටට අලුතින් පත්කල රුසියානු තානාපති, ව්ලැඩිමීර් මෙහයිලොව් මහතා සමග 09 නොවැම්බර් පස්වරුවේදී ජනාදිපති කාර්යාලයෙදී සාකච්ඡා කළේය. රුසියාවේ ශ්රීලංකා තනාපති උදයාංග වීරතුංග මැතිතුමා, තම යහළුවෙක් වන නව රුසියානු තනාපතිව ජනාදිපතිතුමාට හදුන්වා දෙන ලදී. 1957 සිට පැවතෙන දෙරට අතර දිගුකාලීන රාජ්ය තාන්ත්රික සම්බන්ධතාවයන් පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී තානාපතිවරයා ඉතාමත් ප්රසාදයෙන් අදහස් දැක්වීය. මෙම සාකච්ඡාවේදී අවධානය යොමුවූයේ දෙරට අතර අධ්යාපනය, විද්යාව, සංස්කෘතිය, ජනමාධ්යය, තරුණ කටයුතු සහ ක්රීඩාව, ආයෝජන ප්රවර්ධනය සහ ආයෝජන ආරක්ෂාව වෙනුවෙන් ද්විපාර්ශවික ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීමේ කටයුතු වේගවත් කළ යුතු බවයි.
Visit to the Tver State Medical Academy
30 October, 2008
As the initial step of a range of scheduled official visits to the higher educational Institutions across the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, where Sri Lankan students are educated in, on the 30th October 2008 the Ambassador H.E. Mr. Udayanga Weeratunga visited the Tver State Medical Academy accompanied by the First Secretary of the Sri Lankan Mission in Moscow Mr. Damminda Silva. Presently this academy educates over 126 Sri Lankan students.
During this visit H.E. the Ambassador held a meeting with the Rector of the Medical Academy, Prof. Mikhail Kalinkin, the Dean for the foreign students, Prof. Alexander Ivanov and senior academic staff members, where the academy’s responsibility to develop educated individuals and a range of problems related to the Sri Lankan students were discussed closely. The Academy staff praised the achievements of our students in studies while relating only a few complaints.
A special gathering had been organized between H.E. the Ambassador and Sri Lankan students at the auditorium of the Medical Academy along with the participation of the senior staff. H.E. the Ambassador addressing the audience, emphasized and convinced the audience on the importance and the incomparable value of higher education that is being provided by the Medical Academy now. H.E. the Ambassador further expressed the thoughts how to sustain a balanced student life while maintaining own special interests.
When the audience was given the opportunity to forward its remarks, various suggestions and opinions were raised by a number of students, to which, H.E. the Ambassador promised to take proper actions.
Later that day, H.E. the Ambassador advanced on to the student hostel complex to conduct an inspection on how the life is being carried out beyond the precincts of the university and to be convinced personally the quality of living condition.
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