Hon. Foreign Minister Mangala
Samaraweera
Secretary to the President &
Secretaries to all Ministries
Ambassadors
High Commissioners
My Dear Friends,
I consider this opportunity to address Sri Lanka’s
Ambassadors and High Commissioners serving abroad as
a very important occasion.
This is the first time I am addressing
you since I assumed office. It is necessary to obtain
the full benefit of this occasion, which is to have
an honest discussion on all obstacles and challenges
before us and resolve to work as members of a single
Sri Lankan nation. We should all discuss together how
we can overcome the challenges before us.
I do not need to restate that our
country has now reached an important juncture. It is
my view that your valuable contribution is essential
to resolve the North and East question which is the
most important issue before the country; to think at
length on the many atrocities suffered by the people
from terrorists, and our efforts to bring about change
in the administrative structure of our country. It will
also become necessary in these few days to consider
your future role and function in representing our country
with regard to the many aspects of foreign policy followed
by us for a long period. That is why in keeping with
my instructions the Secretary to the Foreign Ministry
has organized this 3 day workshop under the direction
of the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs.
I do not expect to speak at length
about your programme today and the 2 days ahead. I believe
you have a good understanding of it already. I entrust
to you the task of understanding our future policies
well and prepare the necessary activities in this regard
through your active participation in the sessions of
this workshop.
In considering the challenges before
us it is necessary to think in depth on the role of
a Sri Lanka Ambassador abroad. It is especially important
that you give deep thought and consideration to the
vision and policies laid out in the Mahinda Chintana
which is the policy programme of our Government, study
it, and understand how you could participate in its
implementation. Therefore, I consider a deep study of
the Mahinda Chintana as an important part of your functions.
I am aware that in the performance of your duties your
practice so far has been to carry out the traditional
activities of an ambassador in representing a country.
However, my understanding of diplomacy is obtaining
the maximum benefits for one’s country through
discussion and bargaining among countries and groups
representing countries.
It is no secret that your primary
task is to maintain good relations between your motherland
and your country of residence at the highest level.
However, it is necessary to consider whether your time
should be spent solely to strengthen good relations
or to provide consular services to Sri Lankans resident
in that country, as the practice has been so far. Is
it sufficient to limit one’s work to that of the
Department of Emigration and Immigration, or any other
Departments?
You are required to play a multi-faceted
role. In the situation of globalization we face today
there are many important matters that require much thought.
Among these the economic development of Sri Lanka is
of the highest important. As you are already aware our
government is making many efforts to attract foreign
investors to our country. Among your responsibilities
is to explain clearly to investors abroad about investment
policies as well as what investments are possible in
our country. Therefore, you are in a certain manner
representatives who proclaim to the world the advantages
that accrue from investments in our country. The strengths
of our country should be presented effectively. I agreed
this is not an easy task, but it remains to be done
by you.
To the best of my knowledge I cannot
say that our foreign service has carried out this task
very well. I regret this. I am able to talk of this
with some understanding as I have experience of this
in my 36 years in politics and meetings with many Ambassadors
and High Commissioners, and information obtained from
the staff of our Embassies. That is why I wish to emphasize
this.
On the one had it may be necessary
to use this as a factor in future assessments whether
your performance has been at a high level. You should
also be able, in keeping with the prevailing international
market trends, to make presentations to the world about
the products and services that Sri Lanka can provide
to the international community.
Let us look at the representatives
of western countries and our neighbour India who are
in Colombo today. At times I have been surprised by
the efforts taken by them to make strong representations
to me, my Cabinet of Ministers, Secretaries of Ministries,
Heads of Departments and also Sri Lankan Companies about
a producer or product of one’s country or a service
provided by that country. I fail to understand why our
ambassadors and high commissioners are unable to do
this. I do not know whether our ambassadors have made
representations in the countries they serve about the
products of our country. However, I am aware that some
Sri Lankan manufactures such as Damro have established
themselves abroad through their own efforts. Producers
of tea such as Dilmah have gained international prestige
after considerable struggle. I do not know whether you
had contributed to this in any way. It is my honest
belief that had your contribution been there, many of
our products would have had more opportunities to enter
the international market.
Therefore, I urge you to think about
this, to study this. Our government has not sent you
and your families to foreign countries only to attend
evening parties and provide a good education to your
children. You should have a deep and honest love and
feeling for Sri Lanka. That is the Foreign Service I
expect. Therefore, what I expect from you when you return
to the countries you serve in is a completely new attitude
towards your own performance and that of your staff.
The performance of your Embassies should undergo a drastic
change for the better. This should be for the prosperity
and betterment of our country.
We have allocated nearly Rs. 4.5
billion from our budget to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Of this about Rs. 3.2 billion goes for the running of
our missions abroad. This includes your salaries, other
allowances, payments to your staff and other perks and
privileges. It is necessary to consider whether we obtain
the full benefit of the money expended on every foreign
mission, which is to judge this from a Value for Money
concept. I am aware that some of our missions abroad
do not do any work to strengthen our economy and bilateral
relations or to bring investors to Sri Lanka. Of what
benefit are such missions to the country? I ask you
to consider this yourselves. In future there will be
deep study of these missions and I expect to close down
some or else change their staff, and strengthen other
missions.
In discussing this, I am reminded
of another important matter. Today tourist arrivals
in Sri Lanka are only about 600,000. Our neighbouring
countries with economies similar to ours, obtain larger
numbers of tourists. Cuba today has 2.5m tourists a
year. Although many consider Cuba as different type
of country, yet, due to its facilities for tourists
a large number go there from Europe despite many obstacles
and difficulties.
Considering our resources and infrastructure
facilities as well as the long history of tourism in
Sri Lanka, the fact that we can attract just about half
a million tourists annually is a cause for shame. Therefore
as Ambassadors and High Commissioners you should help
revitalize the tourism industry. We cannot any longer
be satisfied by blaming the war, the absence of peace
and other crises for tourists not coming to Sri Lanka.
I was elected to this office by our people to overcome
all this and build a new Sri Lanka. Therefore it is
essential that you devote a larger portion of your time
to speak to the people of those countries and companies
engaged in tourism to make them aware of the natural
beauty and attractions of Sri Lanka and the facilities
available for tourists, to help develop tourism industry
in our country.
We will be seeking information from
you as to the countries visited by tourists from the
countries you serve in, and the numbers of such tourists.
Having made such a study we consider asking you why
such tourists do not come to our country. Therefore,
when you return to those countries that you serve, we
expect a keen interest by you on this matter and meetings
with tour organizing companies, their key persons and
their owners to dispel wrong opinions about Sri Lanka,
to explain the natural beauty and attractions of our
country and thereby attract tourists to our country.
In this connection you should build close ties with
the Ministry of Tourism and the Sri Lanka Tourist Board
for coordinated action.
Similarly, I ask you to have close
ties with the Ministry in charge of foreign investment
and the Sri Lanka Board of Investment in promoting investment
in Sri Lanka. To our knowledge it should be possible
for most of our missions to bring at least 5 good investors
to our country. Therefore it is our expectation that
you will make every effort to use new technology, such
as information technology, to build good websites for
your offices and with good links to the websites of
other relevant Sri Lankan institutions, and provide
as much information as possible to promote investment
in Sri Lanka.
I next wish to talk of another important
aspect. While carrying out all this work, it is necessary
that you look kindly at the Sri Lankans living in the
countries that you serve. You should be like parents
to most Sri Lankans. Particularly in the Middle East,
I am personally aware that while the innocent people
who provide us with considerable foreign exchange from
their earnings are faced with problems, some officers
in our embassies are not even ready to speak decently
or kindly to them. I heard of many such complaints and
laments when I was appointed Minister of Labour and
Vocational Training in 1994, when the Foreign Employment
Bureau came under my purview. Apart not speaking to
them, some Sri Lankans told us that they were not allowed
to be even near the embassy. On most instances inquiries
revealed these complaints to be true. This has to completely
change. You should look with more interest and consideration
at these people who sweat and toil, and undergo much
hardship and suffering in providing foreign exchange
to our country. We pay your salaries from the remittances
made by these people. Apart from your official duties,
on many an occasion if you cannot the help, assist and
provide security to these people in times of crises,
of what use are you as an ambassador? It is you who
have to make inquiries when our citizens face difficulties
abroad. If you shirk this responsibility it will be
necessary to take very strong action about it.
We do not think that there is injustice
done by you as Ambassadors or High Commissioners. However,
some members of your staff treat Sri Lankans in a very
low manner. Therefore, you should summon your staff
and teach to completely change their attitudes, and
also learn the attitude of the Sri Lanka Government.
Any members of the staff who do not change should be
immediately sent back to Sri Lanka. There are many public
servants, very good persons among us, and who can do
this work very well. Therefore, it is expected to introduce
a programme that will pay great attention to the performance
of all members of a mission staff and the manner in
which they carry out public relations activities.
I am one who does not like long speeches.
I speak to you now, 10 months after being elected to
office, as this is something I was unable to arrange
soon after assuming office. Therefore, on this occasion
I will take more time to place my views clearly before
you.
All of you are Sri Lankans. As such
you should have a good understanding about the different
communities that live in Sri Lanka, namely the Sinhalese,
Tamils, Muslims, Burghers, Malays and others; and also
about the different cultures of our people, their practices
and traditions. If in the future those in our Foreign
Service are considered as persons who only consider
the English language as high, and speak in broken Tamil
or Sinhala it will be an insult to both our country
and ourselves.
I recently heard of a Sinhalese
officer in the Foreign Service who could not speak Sinhala.
This simply cannot happen. If there are such persons,
please ask them to learn Sinhala well. If there are
officers in the Diplomatic service who do not know their
mother tongue, there is no place for them in the Foreign
Service. Similarly, officers in the Foreign Service
should also study the language of the country they serve
in. There is a great advantage in learning international
languages such as Japanese, Chinese, French, Russian
and German. In such a situation the question we have
to consider is how there can be room in the Foreign
Service for officers who do not know one’s mother
tongue.
In future recruitments to the Foreign
Service we should take in persons who are nurtured in
Sri Lankan attitudes, love Sri Lanka and in the global
environment stand second to none. We are aware that
you have joined the Foreign Service through competitive
examinations. However, I do not think those examinations
are a yardstick to measure positive attitudes or the
love for your country. I must state that all the Indian
and British High Commissioners, Chinese, Japanese and
Middle Eastern Ambassadors and such diplomats I have
met are persons who have a very high regard for the
cultures of their countries, know their mother tongue
very well and often carry out their tasks as fighters
for their own countries. It is not that we do not have
such ambassadors. What I say is that all our ambassadors
and high commissioners should genuinely love Sri Lanka,
should be capable of effective and professional representation
of the country and able to place the Sri Lankan image
very high before the world.
There is another thought I wish to
state here in this regard. I believe it should be possible
for you to establish personal connections with the president,
prime minister, ministers, other leading persons, regional
ministers, persons who can bring pressure on behalf
of our country, the chairpersons of leading companies
and important persons in civil society in the country
in which you serve. This is what we expect of an ambassador.
Look at the Foreign diplomats serving in our country
today. Their attendance is not confined to evening parties.
They also establish contacts with persons of different
social levels at social clubs and obtain whatever information
that is useful to their countries.
On one occasion when I tried to personally
meet a diplomatic officer of a certain country, this
diplomat was in one of our army camps drinking beer
with an officer of the rank of major. This shows that
those persons are interested enough as to have cordial
relations with ordinary government officers to obtain
whatever information they consider useful to their country.
This is in fact an intelligence service of sorts. You
should also engage in similar activity to obtain information
that is useful to our armed forces who are engaged in
a battle with a terrorist organization such as the LTTE.
It is by such means that we will be able to defend our
motherland. Therefore, you should make this an occasion
to think deeply and make a re-assessment of the manner
in which you carry out your duties.
In our efforts to build a new Sri
Lanka based on the Mahinda Chintana your support is
very important. “Maga Neguma” gets the highest
priority among our main programmes, because our effort
is to improve the living conditions of those who live
in the villages, solve their problems and make the village
a higher place than the city. Our aim is to prevent
migration from village to town by increasing the gross
productivity of the village and link the village with
the world. For this purpose we are implementing programmes
such as “Nena Sala”. Therefore, you must
inquire as to how the exportable produce of our villages
could be directed to the world. You should constantly
inquire about the main problems in our country. By a
proper understanding of these it should be possible
for you to give the necessary help and assistance to
Sri Lanka. You should be interested in placing the actual
situation regarding Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue before
the world in a productive and efficient manner. The
Ambassador of a country is one who represents that country,
appears on behalf of that country, has a good understanding
of the problems in one’s country and is capable
of obtaining solutions to them at an international level.
This is a matter that requires your most serious thought.
Finally, I need not reiterate that
my Government and I appreciate very much the service
you perform for Sri Lanka and the contributions you
have made. We thought of initiating a new orientation
in our foreign policy. If I am to summarize what I have
said so far, we seek your services for our country not
only in the traditional role of diplomatic service,
but also as persons who can be actively help in the
search for solutions to the problems faced by our country;
as intermediaries in bringing foreign investors to our
country; and agents who will increase three or four
fold the number of tourists visiting our country. While
calling on your unstinted support in our efforts to
obtain the maximum benefits to our motherland from the
countries that you serve in and to place Sri Lanka as
an important and respected country in the world, I also
call on you to make all our embassies and foreign missions
centres that will place before the world the strengths
of our motherland and its many attractions and bounties
of nature.
I wish you all a good future and
call upon you to be among the pioneers in building a
new Sri Lanka.
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