Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena urged The Way To Happiness (TWTH) Foundation to expand its projects in selected schools in rural Sri Lanka. This was stated when TWTH Ambassador for South Asia, Naseema Qureshi called on him at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo on Monday (26).

Ms Qureshi explained that the Foundation is currently engaged in inculcating ethical and moral values in school children in selected schools in the Western, Central and Eastern provinces.

The Way to Happiness Foundation is a nonprofit organization with the mission of restoring honesty, raising awareness of moral values among children and adults. TWTH Foundation distributes books in Sinhala, Tamil and English on way to happiness th MORE >>

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Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena thanked the Direct Relief USA for its donation of life-saving medicines worth US$ 10 million to hospitals in Sri Lanka.

Speaking with the Direct Relief USA Emergency Response Manager Chris Alleway and Senior Communication Specialist Maeve O’Connor at the Prime Minister’s office in Colombo on Monday (26), he said the medicines provided by the Direct Relief USA will save many lives of Sri Lankans.

The Prime Minister said the health authorities would immediately supply these medicines to the hospitals faced with shortage. He pointed out that Sri Lanka boasts of an excellent health service with adequate hospitals and medical personnel across the country and the main drawback i MORE >>

The Speaker presented the list of Members of Parliament, who have been nominated to the ’National Council’, which was established according to the proposal presented by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. The names of the Members of Parliament from the recognized political partieswere submitted to the Parliament on 23.09.2022.
Presenting an amendment, the chief Government Whip said that the ’National Council’ chaired by the Speaker should consist of not more than 35 Members of Parliament representing the ninth Parliament from recognized political parties in this country including the Prime Minister, the Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Government Whip and the Chief Organizer of the Opposition.
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Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena held detailed discussions with Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay on economic ties and cooperation between the two countries and ways and means of expediting the proposed joint projects. This discussion took place when the Indian High Commissioner called on him at the Temple Trees on September 22.

The Prime Minister thanked India for the assistance provided to Sri Lanka to face the current economic crisis by extending debt restructuring facilities and providing relief material, food and medicine.

They discussed the possibility of more Indian investments in the energy sector including solar and wind power, joint projects on Trincomalee oil storage tanks, ports, railways and a MORE >>

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said Sri Lanka highly value China’s continuous support to Sri Lanka. He said this when Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Shenhong met him at the Temple Trees Office in Colombo on Wednesday (21).

Ambassador Qi Shenhong said China has offered an additional US$ 400,000 worth food and other humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka and requested the Prime Minister to provide a list of immediate requirements. The Prime Minister thanked him for the assistance provided by China to alleviate the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka,
The Prime Minister made a special mention about the Chinese stand in support of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty at the international forums including the UNHRC.
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The Prime Minister and the Minister of State Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena instructed the members of Parliament who have been newly appointed as District Coordination Committee Chairmen to summon all the District Coordination Committees on food production and development activities within the next week.

The Prime Minister gave these instructions in a discussion held with former Minister Chamal Rajapaksa and other members of Parliament who were appointed as district coordination committee chairmen at the Parliament complex on 21.09.2022.

The following Members of Parliament representing each District were present at the occasion. Colombo - Pradeep Ud MORE >>

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s proposal to establish a ’National Council’ was passed in Parliament on 20.09.2022 without a division. The ’National Council’ will be constituted to represent all the parties representing the Ninth Parliament from the recognized political parties of Sri Lanka.

The consensus was obtained at three rounds of discussions under the leadership of the Prime Minister held at the Parliament complex with the participation of all party representatives and after much deliberation, the agreement of all parties was obtained.
Presenting this proposal to Parliament on 20.09.2022, the Prime Minister explained the authority and general responsibilities of the ’National Council’.
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Senior Japanese Parliamentarian Martsusuta Shinpei of Liberal Democratic party met Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena today (20) at the Prime Minister’s Office to discuss cooperation between the two countries and areas of possible future cooperation.

Mr Martsusuta Shinpei said the main propose of his current visit is to see for himself how Sri Lanka is coping with the economic crisis and to find out how Japan could assist in this process. He expressed gratitude to Sri Lanka for President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s scheduled visit to Tokyo to attend late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s funeral.

The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka hailed late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a great friend of this country and it was  MORE >>

අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් පළාත් පාලන ආයතනයන්හි සභාපතිවරු හා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා අතර හමුවක් පසුගියදා අනුරාධපුර දී සිදුවිය.

වත්මන් ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හමුවේ පළාත් පාලන ආයතන මුහුණපාන ගැටලු, මහජන සේවාවන් සැපයීම සඳහා ඒ තුළින් ඇතිවන දුෂ්කරතා පිළිබඳ සභාපතිවරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය MORE >>

A group of Cambodian monks called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Prime Minister’s Office to bless him and convey the greetings from Sangharaja of Cambodia, Venerable Tep Vong Mahathera.
The Sangharaja Thera initiated a fund collection to support the people in Sri Lanka and a sum of Rs 24 million has been donated to the government for welfare activities.
The Chief Patron, Ven Dr Omalpe Sobitha Thera, Director of International Meditation Center in Cambodia, Ven Kashyapa Thera, Ven Rahula Thera of Phnom Penh Buddhist Vihara and several other Cambodian monks took part in the meeting and chanted Sethpirith to bless the Prime Minister. MORE >>

අනුරාධපුරයේ දෙදින සංචාරයක නිරතව සිටින අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ඒ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේ සම්බුද්ධ ජයන්ති විහාරස්ථානයේ ආගමික වතාවත්වලට එක්වීමෙන් පසුව ජනමාධ්‍යවේදීන් ඇසූ ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු දෙමිනි.
රජය දැනටමත් ගොවීන්ගේ පොහොර ගැටලුවට විසඳුම් ලබා දී තිබේ. එළැඹෙන මහකන්නය සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පොහොර බෙද� MORE >>

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena offered pooja at the Srimahabodhiya and the other sacred places of worship in Anuradhapura this morning (18). He also paid his respects to Chief Incumbents of the Atamathana and obtained blessings.
State Minister Shehan Semasinghe, MPs S M Chandrasena, Duminda Dissanayake, Yadamini Gunawardena, Government Agent Janaka Jayasinghe, former CM Ranjith Samarakoon, Mayor J M Somadasa, local government members and Buddhist devotees were present at this occasion. MORE >>

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena urged the new Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to assist Sri Lanka’s efforts to face the economic and fuel crisis.
Ambassador Khalid bin Hamoud Nasser Aldasam Alkahtani, who present his credentials recently said his main task would be to increase job opportunities in his country for skilled Sri Lankan workers. The Ambassador who called on the Prime Minister on Friday (Sept 16) said within a short period of time, the number of Sri Lankan skilled and semi-skilled workforce in Saudi Arabia could be increased to 400,000 from the present 180,000. “I am fond of Sri Lanka and I will do my best to support your country,” he assured.
The Prime Minister said the newly introduced relaxed visa regulations  MORE >>

The Prime Minister also greets Indian counterpart Narendra Modi who is also celebrating his birthday today.

The 158th birthday celebration of Anagarika Dharmapala was held at the Maha Bodhi Society in Colombo on 17.09.2022 under the patronage of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Speaking at the event, Ven. Ambulugala Sumangala Nayaka Thera, incumbent of Agrashrawaka Dhathu Viharaya said, “Due to the current crises in the country, the number of political leaders participating in festivals is less, but our Prime Minister, regardless of his position never forgets the Mahabodhi Society, Agrashravaka Dhatuvihara, Anagarika Dharmapala and even the Maha Bodhi President, Ven Banagala Upatissa Nayaka Thera.
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Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that climate change will play an enormous role in shaping ecosystems and livelihoods in Sri Lanka in the decades to come and it is essential to build awareness and resilience to mitigate the adverse effects on ecosystem.
He said this at a meeting with Dr Tony Simons, Director General, World Agroforestry (ICRAF: International Center for Research and Agroforestry) at the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday. “For centuries, Sri Lanka has skillfully harnessed the power of nature through traditional agroforestry practices, and it can set an example by continuing to place a high priority on addressing environmental, food security and social development issues,”Dr Simons said.

ICR MORE >>

Although Norway will close down its embassy in Colombo next year, the development assistance under NORAD and NorFund and other forms of aid will continue. This assurance was given by Norwegian Ambassador Trine Jøranli Eskelad who called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.
The Prime Minister thanked the envoy for Norwegian support to Sri Lanka for a period of over 60 years, which began in the 1960s through NGO cooperation in the fisheries sector. In 1976, Norway initiated a government-to-government development cooperation in which an integrated rural development programme in the southern district of Hambantota became the flagship.
Ms Eskelad said the NorFund would provide more assi MORE >>

Prime Minister thanks Japanese LNBTI for new IT degree program linked to job ops in Japan
Lanka Nippon BizTech Institute (LNBTI) launched its first degree programme today (15th September ) at KNBTI premises Maharagama in the presence of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Japanese Ambassador, Mizukoshi Hiheaki.
LNBTI is an accredited degree awarding institute for its unique IT degree programme, BSc (Hons) Software Engineering. LNBTI becomes Sri Lanka’s first and only Japanese Higher Education Institute to feature a Japanese job-oriented programme, approved by the Ministry of Education.
The salient feature of the new IT degree programme is that the Japanese private sector employment opportunities will be available f MORE >>