Executive Director of UN-Habitat arrives in Sri Lanka

Dr. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka - the Executive Director of the UN-Habitat and Under Secretary-General of United Nations will be arriving in Sri Lanka tomorrow at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Dr. (Mrs.) Tibaijuka joined Un-Habitat as Executive Director in September 2000.

Today she is the highest ranking African woman in the United Nations system.

A Tanzanian national, she holds a Doctorate of Science in Agricultural Economics from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.

During her short stay in Sri Lanka she will be meeting Ferrial Ashroff, Minister of Housing,

Construction Industry, Eastern Province Education and Irrigation Development and Dinesh Gunawardane, Minister of Urban Development and Water Supply to discuss matters of mutual interest. She will have a meeting with the donor community and also visit the Colombo Municipal Council for a meeting with Mayor of Colombo and the Citizens Forum.

UN-Habitat has a long tradition in working in Sri Lanka providing assistance through a range of national programs and city based projects. UN-Habitat responded immediately after the tsunami and attended to the urgent clearing of roads, repairing of water supplies and removal of debris during the emergency phase.

UN-Habitat is working on the re-building activities throughout the country in number of affected tsunami areas including Galle, Hambantota, Kalmunai, Kattankudy, Batticaloa, Killinochchi and Jaffna. Dr. Tibaijuka will be visiting Galle to meet the beneficiary families who had received UN-Habitat assistance for the construction of houses damaged by the tsunami.