SAARC seat allocations made in accordance with 1996 protocol - FM

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

KOTTE: Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told Parliament yesterday that seating arrangements for the 15th SAARC leaders meeting were made in accordance with the protocol formulated in 1996.

Responding to a question by UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera regarding the Opposition Leader’s seating arrangements at the SAARC Summit, the Minister said according to the table of precedence, the Opposition Leader should have been reserved a seat at the sixth row.

“However, the Opposition Leader was reserved a seat in the front row with Government ministers. I, on behalf of the Government also extend my gratitude to the Opposition Leader for his participation at the SAARC Summit by accepting our invitation,” he said.

The Minister said a discussion was held under the patronage of the SAARC Secretary General on the arrangements of the SAARC Summit. The seating arrangements and other Summit activities were made following decisions taken at this discussion, he said.

According to the protocol list, the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Chief Justice and the Cabinet of Ministers should be given the first, second, third, forth and fifth places of the list respectively. The Opposition Leader should be provided a seat in the sixth row.

All seating arrangements for the SAARC Summit were made based on this protocol list. But the opposition leader was provided a seat in the first row to safeguard the dignity of his portfolio, Bogollagama said.

The Minister said this protocol list formulated in 1996 has been gazetted.

“If the Opposition wants to amend this list, there is a possibility to do so. I request the UNP to raise this issue at the Foreign Ministry Consultative Committee meeting as a proposal. However I regret if any inconvenience was caused to the opposition leader who participated in the SAARC Summit.”

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said he got an invitation to attend the SAARC Summit.

“I was first seated in the place reserved for me. Later, I was seated in the first row on a request by Minister Dinesh Gunawardene. However, the table of precedence was not implemented properly. Several senior ministers were not in the front row,” he said.