UN Secretary General welcomes Sri Lanka’s commitment to peacekeeping

London: The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the commitment made by Sri Lanka, among other countries, to UN Peacekeeping at the United Nations Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in London today.

Welcoming the pledges and commitments made by several nations, the Secretary-General said he is particularly encouraged by the pledges related to rapid deployment, including commitments by Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to maintain units at a high level of readiness.

Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon hosted a UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial at Lancaster House in London on 8 September 2016.

This followed on from the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping in September 2015, and will reaffirm the UK's commitment to UN peacekeeping.

Sri Lanka's State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene is attending the four-day summit along with the defence ministers of 80 other countries and NATO.

The Ministerial meeting focused on the challenges faced by UN peacekeeping and the on-going efforts to enhance its effectiveness through better planning for UN peace operations to ensure effective response to new crises; the implementation of pledges made at last years' Summit and garnering new pledges of support; and enhancing the performance of UN peacekeepers, with a focus on high-quality training prior to deployment. The UN currently implements peacekeeping missions in 16 countries.

At the summit State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene is expected to elaborate on the skills of the Sri Lankan tri forces in combating terrorism and to seek to obtain more opportunities for Sri Lankan troops to take part in peacekeeping missions. He will also share the country's experience of a decades-long war.