Sri Lankan Ambassador Kariyawasam elected President of UN Conference on illicit trade in small arms  [Thursday, June 29, 2006 - 8.55 GMT] 

Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York was unanimously elected as President of the first United Nations conference to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action on illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, during the opening of the conference June 26 at the UN Headquarters in New York.  Ambassador Kariyawasam thanked all the delegates for the confidence placed in him and urged them to show flexibility and political will to enable him to lead the conference to a successful conclusion.

President of the UN General Assembly Jan Eliasson and Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan addressed the opening session of the conference.  The High Level Segment of the conference was addressed by a number of dignitaries, including several Foreign Ministers and Deputy Foreign Ministers.  The conference is attended by over 2000 delegates and more than 200 non-governmental organizations.

Sri Lanka’s Secretary of Defence and leader of the delegation Gotabaya Rajapaksa addressing the High Level Segment in the first session of the conference stated that Sri Lanka has worked tirelessly at local, national and international levels to address the challenges posed by the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and Ambassador Kariyawasa’s election as the President of the conference was a manifestation of that commitment Sri Lanka had shown at international level.

Emphasizing that the proliferation of illicit small arms continued to be a serious threat to peace, stability and sustainable development in many parts of the world, Mr. Rajapaksa added that the nexus between terrorism and trafficking of weapons constitutes an unprecedented challenge.

The two-week long conference  is expected to adopt an outcome document outlining further action to be taken by the UN member States in the full implementation of the UN Programme of Action at national, regional and international levels.

 PRINT THIS STORY

Contact Information: Send mail to gosl@presidentsl.org with questions or comments about this web site. 
Last Updated Date: June 29, 2006 -8.55 GMT