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Interview conducted by Ranjan Cooray with Doros Jeropoulos Lanka's Hony. Consul in Cyprus, during a recent visit to Sri Lanka.

Doros Jeropoulos

When were you appointed Consul for Sri Lanka in Cyprus and under what circumstances?

My first association with the resplendent island Sri Lanka was in 1985. I was at that time serving the Government of Cyprus as Vice Chairman of the Cyprus Ports Authority.

The Civil Engineer of the CPA visited Colombo on invitation of the Colombo Ports Authority as a consultant on technical matters and on his return he was telling me of the beauties of Sri Lanka and the kindness and hospitality of the Sri Lankan people. I was urged to apply, and I did so by obtaining the address of the late Foreign Minister Shahul Hameed from the Consul of Cyprus in Sri Lanka Mr. Fonseka. A year after my application I was finally appointed and the formal documents of the appointment were issued in 1986.

What were the duties of the Consul at the early stages of your appointment and how have these developed todate?

The first duty was, and always is, to try and keep up and improve the good relations between the two countries in all fields, i.e. social, political, economic, cultural, trade etc. and follow anniversaries and all other relevant activities that the Consulates and Diplomatic Missions are involved with. During the 80s very few Sri Lankans were working and living in Cyprus and no labour problems existed. I had a close cooperation with the late Foreign Minister Mr. Shahul Hameed, who visited Cyprus during the Commonwealth Conference together with Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe who was also Prime Minister at that time, if I remember well it was in 1993.

I never thought for a moment that my appointment would ever have such a great impact and bearing on my future activities. I never realized that I would be able to do what we do at the Consulate today.

I had to establish a Consulate Office in Cyprus and learn to carry out the functions of a Sri Lankan Mission abroad. Cyprus has been accredited to a High Commission somewhere in Europe. We are now accredited to the Rome Embassy the access to which is very easy and leads to good cooperation. I learnt how to do everything by sheer trial and error method, venturing totally into the unknown.

The Hony. Consulate did not have a major role to play, as Sri Lanka's interests in Cyprus were minimal then, and as we were not of course a Diplomatic Mission, our connection with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo was only the formal connection as with Hony Consulates.

With the steady influx of Sri Lankan migrant workers into Cyprus seeking employment as domestic help, farm hands and in other trades, the role of the Consulate changed dramatically, we were confronted with having to deal with the problems of adjustments of these migrant workers to a new working environment. I had to visit Sri Lanka often to get instructions from the Government of Sri Lanka on all issues related to these problems. At this point in time I am regularly visiting Sri Lanka, at least twice a year, and I have to state that I made many friends and I feel very comfortable and happy to be here. You can say that I am at home away from home.

What are the relations of the Consulate with the Government of Sri Lanka? Considering that I am privileged to represent the Government of Sri Lanka in Cyprus, I have to make every effort to be of service to all requirements of the esteemed Government I represent. Messages from the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, also from any other Government Officer or dignitary have to be followed to the letter. Also important news must be circulated both ways. I have to state most sincerely that these relations are very good. We have open channels of communication and I am grateful for this support.

Please give us details of your connections and cooperation with the Government of Sri Lanka and how does this help you to perform your duties in Cyprus effectively? First of all, a general report is given personally to Hon. Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe on the overall relations of the two countries. I had the honour to visit the Hon. Prime Minister on two occasions in the last two years.

The labour problems, which are now the main concern of the Consulate, are dealt with the Hon. Minister of Employment and Labour. It was with the Ministry of Employment and Labour that the systems and procedures were introduced, by which we register and monitor the Sri Lankan labour force in Cyprus and we continuously try to improve their working and living conditions and also solve their problems.

We count more than 12 thousand Sri Lankan workers in Cyprus, against only about 3-5 thousand back in 1999-2000. The Government of Cyprus establish their own procedures and laws for all the migrant workers who come from many countries, however, we have to consider the interests of the Sri Lankan community only and we have to work closely with the Hon. Minister of Employment and Labour to achieve that.

Hon. Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe visited Cyprus twice recently when he had very important working meetings with the Ministers of Labour and the interior who are concerned with migrant workers and tried to secure improved conditions for the benefit of the Sri Lankan workers. Through the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, measures are taken for meeting all loose ends and make the contracts of employment in Cyprus tight for the full protection of the workers. A proposals for a Labour Agreement between the countries has been proposed by Hon. Minister Samarasinghe and we have just recently submitted the document to the appropriate Ministry in Cyprus.

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment is giving us guidelines and approves all procedures and I have to express our appreciation for this cooperation. Furthermore, Hon. Minister Samarasinghe approved that a special training centre for Cyprus recruits will be established in Sri Lanka to better prepare them for the demands of the work offered and also will monitor, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Cyprus, the medical examinations necessary before employment will be secured, steps which will enhance the quality of the employees from Sri Lanka. These proposals were received very positively by the Cypriot authorities when announced by Minister Samarasinghe.

In conclusion I have to express my sincere thanks to Hon. Minister Samarasinghe for supporting our efforts, responding to our invitations to come to Cyprus and meet and discuss with the Cypriot Authorities and give solutions to many of our problems.

The Honorary Consulate however, is appointed, controlled and supervised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I wish to express my gratitude to the Foreign Minister, Hon. Tyronne Fernando for his cooperation and support. Soon after the Hon. Minister took over the Ministry I visited him and established a relation, which over the time improved to a close cooperation.

Minister Fernando showed understanding to the problems especially to the fact that all details of the cooperation between the two countries had to be ratified by the MFA. I was able to visit the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs in all my visits to Colombo and he nominated a number of officers to act as liaisons between the Consulate and the Ministry, thus facilitating procedures and expediting a number of important issues. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Consular Division is giving us all the support we need and responds to all our requests immediately. Also all departments of the Ministry related to Missions and Consulates are always available and especially in the last few years we established a regular contact, which is greatly beneficial and help us to perform our duties. The Chief of Protocol, the Foreign Secretariat and all officers are very helpful and I have to thank them and Hon. Minister Tyronne Fernando for this.

Minister Fernando accepted my invitation to come to Cyprus and his visit between 27 and 30 July this year turned out to be a most successful official visit, and in a most appropriate time, when Cyprus had signed accession to Europe. Finally Minister Fernando was officially the guest of the Foreign Minister of Cyprus Mr. George Lacovou with whom Minister Fernando had a very fruitful meeting enhancing the excellent relations between Cyprus and Sri Lanka even further.

The Government of Cyprus appreciated very much the declaration of support made by Hon. Minister Fernando on the important issue of the territorial integrity and unification of Cyprus and the overall just solution of the Cyprus problem.

Hon. Minister Fernando met with HE the President of Cyprus Mr. Tassos Papadopoulos and had the opportunity to request that the employment of Sri Lankan workers would continue even after Cyprus is fully governed by European rules and procedures.

With the Minister of Communications and Works Mr. Kikis Kazamias, Hon. Minister Fernando discussed the Aviation Agreement and the prospects of Cyprus Airways who commence direct flights (via Dubai) to Colombo twice a week as from October 2003. Both ministers declared that this connection will help the expansion of the trade relations between the countries.

During the meeting with the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance Mr. Makis Keravnos, Hon. Minister Fernando endorsed the efforts and proposals made by Minister Samarasinghe for the improvement of the working conditions of the Sri Lankan work force in Cyprus and the adoption of the Labour Agreement proposed by Hon. Minister Samarasinghe and thanked the Government of Cyprus for the legislative support given to the Migrant Workers in Cyprus.

Another important meeting was with the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr. George Lillikas. It was ascertained during this meeting that there are spheres for further trade and tourist relations. The Consulate took the initiative to promote participation of Sri Lanka business at the Cyprus International Trade Fair in May 2004 and Hon. Minister Fernando pledged to support this effort.

These meetings, which were duly promoted and covered by the media had a very positive response by the Cyprus Government and were also very well received by the Cyprus society at large. It is a fact that the relations of Cyprus and Sri Lanka after the visit are better and this is the reason why I gave an outline of these meetings.

I have to mention also that a Cultural Promotion Agreement is in process to be signed and all these agreements are additional links to the chain of excellent relations already existing between the two countries.

During the meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Nicosia we came to know that Hon. Tyronne Fernando is a candidate for the position of Secretary General of the United Nations. The Hon. Minister received the good wishes of all there present for the success of this noble goal. Coming back to the question set, all these activities of the Sri Lankan Honourable Ministers, give power to the Consulate and directly help our efforts to protect and promote the interests of the Sri Lanka workers in Cyprus. Our Consulate is well respected because everybody knows that we enjoy the support of the Ministries and the Government of Cyprus respond positively to all our requests.

Earlier in the year, the Hon. Speaker Mr. Joseph Michael Perera also visited Cyprus as a guest of the President of the Cyprus Parliament Mr. Demetris Christofias and that meeting was exceptionally successful and another cornerstone in the relation of the countries, especially of Parliament level.

We are operating the Consulate duties from Limassol Consulate offices, employing seven permanent staff (3 Sri Lankans) and we provide also a small office to the Sri Lanka Welfare Association in Nicosia to facilitate their activities. We run a safe house/shelter at the consulate in Limassol where stranded housemaids can find shelter and support until their problems are resolved. On daily basis we accommodate an average of 10-15 women.

Hon. Minister Tyronne Fernando, when realizing personally the hard work done at the Consulate and the need for further support, agreed to my proposal and appointed Dr. Sotiris Jeropoulos of Vice Consul, thus providing for further coverage of the Consulate needs and planning early for the future developments. And as Dr. Jeropoulos will be based most probably in Nicosia, the needs of the Sri Lanka community will be met with more ease and effectiveness.

With Cyprus becoming full member of Europe as from April 2004, do you expect that employment of migrant workers to Cyprus from Sri Lanka will stop?

I certainly hope not, I do not know what the rules will dictate, however if we continue to supply Cyprus with workers from Sri Lanka, this will be also a result of the efforts made by Hon. Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and Hon. Minister Tyronne Fernando who as early as now, requested the Government of Cyprus, no matter what the European general rules will prescribe that "old friends should not be forgotten" as Hon. Minister Fernando said at the meeting with President Papadopoulos, or as it is included in the proposal of the Labour Agreement proposed by Hon. Minister Samarasinghe.

What further improvements do you expect for the Consulate to be more efficient?

I hope that soon, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment will supply an experienced Labour Affairs Officer to use the Consulate premises as his base. This will help greatly with meeting and solving directly the daily problems we face.

Also we are now pressing the Government of Cyprus to seriously consider and sign the Labour Agreement as soon as possible by which procedures will be simplified.

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