Sharma meets GL, Ranil, Chamal

•  Commonwealth Secretary concludes visit today; no decision yet on whether Lanka will be on CMAG agenda in April

Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma met with External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa yesterday, as part of his three day visit to review preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Colombo in November.

The meetings came even as the Commonwealth Secretariat in a media release late Monday claimed that the Secretary General had not made any public statements regarding Sri Lanka being the CHOGM hosts, “contrary to some media reports.”

Sharma met Speaker Rajapaksa in Parliament at noon yesterday.

The Sri Lankan Speaker is the current Chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The Secretary General also held talks with the External Affairs Minister following his meeting with the Speaker. Secretary General Sharma concludes his visit to Sri Lanka today.

The visit comes in the wake of Canada having renewed calls for Sri Lanka to be placed on the agenda of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting scheduled for April because of the country’s human rights record and the recent impeachment of the Chief Justice.  There is no decision so far on whether Sri Lanka will be an agenda item on CMAG which has the power to censure, suspend and expel member states for a lack of adherence to Commonwealth values. (DB)