Hon. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera
Secretary to the President &
Secretaries to all Ministries
Ambassadors
High Commissioners
My Dear Friends,

I consider this opportunity to I address Sri Lanka's Ambassadors and High Commissioners serving abroad as a very important occasion.

This is the first time address 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.