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DPL costs slashed, envoys to work from Colombo
Sri Lankans are to be named envoys to countries where there is no diplomatic representation now, but they will be required to operate from an office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo. This is one of the measures the Government will adopt under a re-structuring programme, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday.
Those to be named, he told the Sunday Times, hours before leaving for Australia, would be persons with some financial ability. “They would operate from an office in the Foreign Ministry and make at least two visits a year to the countries they were accredited to, he said.
Minister Samaraweera said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was in favour of the proposal. The same practice, he said, was followed in Singapore. For example, its High Commissioner to Sri Lanka is resident in Singapore.
Among the countries to which the Government will give priority consideration will be those in Eastern Europe. Mr. Samaraweera said an ambassador would be named for the Czech Republic. Similarly there would also be an ambassador to the Vatican. At present, the Sri Lanka envoy in Geneva is concurrently accredited to the Vatican.
This new arrangement, Foreign Minister Samaraweera said, would ensure that Sri Lanka had a “footprint in all important capitals of the world.” This would also obviate the need for the Government to spend millions of rupees in setting up resident missions. The envoys would be competent enough to advise the Government whilst monitoring developments in the respective countries they would be accredited to.
Another measure is the revival of a system that was in practice to investigate complaints or irregularities in Sri Lanka diplomatic missions overseas. Three retired senior officers in the diplomatic service would be selected to serve as inspectors for this purpose. Mr. Samaraweera said this practice had been there in the past and was a procedure followed in most countries.