Foreign Minister thanks staff for successful completion of SAARC
Summit
The Foreign Ministry staff had been placed in eight committees tasked
with designated functions to prepare the groundwork for the Summit.
Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday, met the members of the
Conference Services Committee and the Budget Committee headed by
DG/Americas, Rodney Perera and DG/Administration, Saman Ekanayake
respectively.
Following an interaction with all members of the two Committees,
Minister Bogollagama addressed the gathering at the Ministry and
conveyed his personal thanks and appreciation to the Ministry staff for
their hard work and dedication, which had been the key to the success of
the SAARC Summit.
He said the results achieved matched their commitment. Sri Lanka has
gained international prestige by hosting the Summit and the people of
the country are the real beneficiaries of this effort, he said.
Minister Bogollagama stated that the opportunity to hold the 15th
SAARC Summit came about on December 20, 2007 at the Council of Ministers
meeting in New Delhi, at which other members accepted Sri Lanka's offer
to host the Summit. It is a tribute to the dedication of the Foreign
Ministry staff that it was possible to finalise all arrangements,
including complicated logistics, conference services, documentation,
cultural events etc., within 150 days.
The Foreign Minister said all SAARC Leaders and Foreign Ministers had
praised the excellent arrangements for the Summit. Indian Prime
Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh had said that even India would not have
been able to hold such a conference on the scale and grandeur of the
Colombo Summit.
The Minister remarked that although he had to travel abroad on three
occasions last month, once even on the eve of the Summit, he had supreme
confidence in the Ministry staff that they would rise to the occasion
and discharge their duties. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had conveyed his
appreciation to the Minister and the Ministry staff for their
outstanding team effort.
The Minister underscored his confidence in the staff by not
outsourcing any functions relating to the Summit and the Ministry staff
had lived up to his highest expectations. |