SL disappointed over Canadian PM's remarks

16 September 2011 10:12 am Views - 6668

Sri Lanka expressed its disappointment over remarks made by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper against holding the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka in 2013, the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canada said.

“The Commonwealth Member States in 2009, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Trinidad & Tobago decided to hold the 2013 Summit in Sri Lanka and therefore it would be unfair to reopen the issue since the arrangements for hosting the summit in 2013 are already underway,” High Commissioner Chitranganee Wagiswara told the Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird in Ottawa.

“The possibility of arranging for a visit to Sri Lanka by a group of Canadian Members of Parliament was also discussed among other matters,” the statement said.


Last week, the Canadian Prime Minister has said that as Prime Minister he will not attend the Commonwealth Summit in Sri Lanka, if there is no progress in terms of human rights.

“I have expressed concerns about holding of the Commonwealth Summit, the one after the one coming up in Sri Lanka, I intend to make clear to my fellow leaders of the Commonwealth that if we do not see progress in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and some of the issues you’ve raised, I will not as Prime Minister be attending that Commonwealth Summit,” the Premier had told the media.