President heads to UN General Assembly, Minister Samarasinghe to NAM summit in Venezuela

President Maithripala Sirisena will lead a delegation to the 71st General Assembly of the United Nations that will be opening today in New York.

President Sirisena is scheduled to address the General Assembly on 21 September.

Meanwhile, Skills Development and Vocational Training Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe will lead the Sri Lankan delegation to the 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Caracas, Venezuela from 13-18 September.

Minister Samarasinghe will participate in the NAM Summit as the special representative of President Maithripala Sirisena. He is scheduled to deliver a special lecture at the summit.

The Sri Lanka delegation to the summit will also include officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry under the instructions of Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

With 120 member states, NAM is the second largest international body after the United Nations, with 53 members from Africa, 39 from Asia and 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean besides 17 observer countries and 10 observer organisations.