Commonwealth Secretary-General tells SL ‘You are not alone’; pledges full support

The Commonwealth-Secretary General, Patricia Scotland KC

The Commonwealth-Secretary General, Patricia Scotland KC on Friday pledged the Commonwealth Secretariat’s full support to Sri Lanka as the country navigates difficult challenges.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General said she arrived in Sri Lanka to let every Sri Lankan know that they are not alone while the island nation continues to feel the weight of political and economic pressure.

“I know that Sri Lanka continues to feel the weight of political and economic pressure. The pressure can be hard to bear. It can be destabilising, isolating, and frightening, and I am here because I want every Sri Lankan to know that you are not alone in the nature of the challenges you face. You are part of this special precious Commonwealth family,” Scotland said addressing the Inaugural Lecture for Geopolitical Cartographers held under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Colombo City Centre.

Secretary-General Scotland is in Sri Lanka at the invitation of the government to attend celebration events for the 75th Independence Day in Colombo, marking the significant anniversary.

The Secretary-General gave a lecture at ocean think-tank, the Geopolitical Cartographer, on the Commonwealth’s role in facing ‘Polycrisis’ – the term given to the current set of linked factors causing global instability.

Speaking further, the Secretary-General said Sri Lanka was not alone in facing the fallout from a host of interconnected global pressures like spiralling costs, energy shortages and the effects of climate change.

Nevertheless, the Commonwealth, as a collective of 56 countries, is working together to lend support and help member states work towards a more prosperous, sustainable and secure future for all, she said.

“As a family we have responsibility for one another. A duty to each other, a shared love and a shared journey and you are not alone like the challenges you face.”

She added: “Where we can face the challenges of the world as a family, we build proud, connected nations: each with the confidence to stand tall, but each with the perspective to know that we are at our best when we work together.

“Sri Lanka is not simply part of this work; you are central to it.”

“I travel all around the commonwealth and the wider world and whilst every country and its direct experience and circumstances are different, they are similar challenges everywhere and you may feel that you are living in a country under pressure, but the reality is that we are all living in a world under pressure. All of us are tightly bound by a tangled knot of crisis-spanning global systems. A world living with the social, political and economic consequences of COVID-19,” she said.