High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

Craftspersons from Sri Lanka are currently exhibiting and selling their products at the Shilpa Sri Lanka 2011 Crafts Exhibition that is being held at the Dilli Haat Crafts Village in New Delhi. The products that will be on exhibit until 31 October include jewellery, lace, ceramic ware, rush & reed items, batik, wooden toys, bamboo and lacquer products, paintings and traditional Sri Lankan masks.  
 
The exhibition was officially inaugurated on 19 October by High Commissioner Prasad Kariyawasam and the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) of India, S.S. Gupta. The exhibition is organised jointly by the National Crafts Council of Sri Lanka and the High Commission of Sri Lanka in India in collaboration with the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) of India.
 
Speaking at the inauguration of the exhibition, High Commissioner Kariyawasam stated that the participation of Sri Lankan Craftspersons at the Dilli Haat Crafts Village in New Delhi is a manifestation of the close relations that exist between India and Sri Lanka, as well as the civilisational traditions between the two nations. While the opportunity of exhibiting their products at Dilli Haat is professionally useful for the Craftspersons it is also commercially productive. Development Commissioner Gupta, in his remarks, appreciated the high quality of Sri Lankan crafts. Referring to the India-Sri Lanka Crafts Exchange Programme through which Indian Craftspersons visited Sri Lanka in April, the Development Commissioner stated that the Indian Craftspersons appreciated the experience as well as the warm hospitality that they received in Sri Lanka.

Upon the completion of exchange of formal notes between the Ministry of External Affairs of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda through their respective missions in New Delhi, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Government of Rwanda decided to establish Diplomatic Relations between the two countries with effect from 20th April 2011.

While the High Commissioner of Rwanda based in New Delhi would be concurrently accredited to Sri Lanka, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka based in Nairobi would be concurrently accredited to Rwanda.

The establishment of diplomatic ties between Sri Lanka and Rwanda would enhance the existing friendly relations and cooperation in the political, socio-economic and cultural fields for the mutual benefit of the two peoples.

The Delhi Ministerial Dialogue on Green Economy and Inclusive Growth, co-hosted by the Government of India and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development was inaugurated on 3 October by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests of India, Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan. The Delhi Dialogue aims to support the preparations for Rio+20 by providing a platform for international deliberations on opportunities for a green economy to reinforce countries' poverty eradication and social development agendas including through enhancing good security and energy security of the poor. Government officials and delegates from 54 countries and 12 UN agencies are attending the two day Conference.

Leading Sri Lanka's delegation to the Conference, High Commissioner Prasad Kariyawasam stated that Sri Lanka has had an unbroken record of sustainable resource consumption conceived and implemented based on Buddhist and Hindu cultural concepts dating back two-and-a-half millennia. Therefore, Sri Lanka has been fortunate to have escaped man-made environmental problems in any significant proportion until the latter quarter of the 20th century. Unfortunately, with the transition from an agricultural economy to industry, rise in population and increasing consumerism, Sri Lanka is now experiencing several environmental issues that have an increasingly negative impact on sustainable development endeavors.

High Commissioner Kariyawasam informed the gathering of the green growth initiatives Sri Lanka has adopted to hasten the country's journey towards achieving sustainable development and economic growth such as the establishment of the National Council for Sustainable Development, the Green Lanka Programme to evolve long term plans for sustainable economic and social development, the enacting of an Environmental Conservation Levy Act to secure financial resources in environmental management, and the development of an index called "Sustainable Human Development Index" to interpret human development with ecological factors.

Referring to the high quality of life especially in education and healthcare in Sri Lanka and the many welfare programmess the country has put in place to eradicate poverty and malnutrition, the High Commissioner said that in terms of natural resources and biodiversity conservation, Sri Lanka has maintained a satisfactory level of natural forest (23%) and tree cover (over 60% of land area). Moreover, in respect of climate change, Sri Lanka is in an insignificant position being a low carbon emission country with only 600kg per person per year. However, he regretted that despite having achieved a low carbon economy ensuring sustainable development, Sri Lanka has not received any significant global recognition and support in global mechanisms and processes of climate change mitigation and adaptation.

(Full text of High Commissioner Kariyawasam’s speech)

The 4th SAARC Folklore and Heritage Festival organised by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL), was inaugurated in Agra on 30 September. The three-day Festival draws together academics, experts in folklore, poets, dancers, artists, musicians, archaeologists and government officials from the region.

Delivering the key note address at the inauguration, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Prasad Kariyawasam, stating that it is important to consider folkore as fundamental experience of human life and not as a vestige of pre-industrial societies, urged the experts from the region present at the Festival to seek ways and means for traditional knowledge and folklore to be used as tools for creating peace and stability in the South Asian region (the text of the full Statement is appended below).

Participants from Sri Lanka included Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and the Arts, Wimal Rubesinghe and Professors Ariyarathne Kaluarachchi, Jayasena Kottegoda, Tissa Kariyawasam and Praneeth Abhayasundara.

The fifteen-member Ravibandhu-Samanthi Dance Ensemble and a troupe led by Professor Ariyarathne Kaluarachchi from Sri Lanka joined dancers and performers from the South Asia region to perform in several venues in Agra during the Festival.

At the conclusion of the Folklore Festival, the Ravibandhu-Samanthi Dance Ensemble will travel to Chandigarh, Delhi and Chennai for performances organised jointly by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the High Commission of Sri Lanka in India.