Programme to re-integrate Lankan expatriates in Belgium launched

An outreach programme has been launched by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Belgium in line with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s vision to engage the Sri Lankan expatriate communities abroad through an embassy network.

The programme was launched at the official residence of Sri Lankan Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, Ravinatha Aryasinha in Brussels recently.

The main objective of this programme is to re-integrate expatriates with Sri Lanka and to leverage their capabilities to promote Sri Lanka in Belgium and Luxembourg. Around 150 Sri Lankans from Belgium and Luxembourg, including students in Belgian Universities participated.

Ambassador Aryasinha said Sri Lanka was at a critical juncture in its history, when the Security Forces were on the verge of clearing the Northern Province of the LTTE. The Government was implementing an aggressive development strategy including in areas previously dominated by the LTTE.

He appealed to the community to remain engaged with these processes in their Motherland and both as organisations as well as individuals to play an active role in supporting the developmental efforts in Sri Lanka. He also urged the community to treat the Embassy as an own extension of Sri Lanka.

The embassy has also instituted the practice of conducting commemorative events to celebrate festivals of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. The Embassy together with Sri Lankan expatriates and other well wishers held an Iftar function at the embassy.

Ambassador Aryasinha said such events help to create a profound appreciation of the richness of the diversity in the Sri Lankan society and celebrate the strength it engenders which Sri Lankans can be rightly proud of. He said such events also highlighted the role of the embassy as a catalyst that unites the cultural, social and religious diversity among Sri Lankans.

He recalled the contributions being made by the Muslim community in Sri Lanka, towards political and economic development and also to Sri Lanka’s cultural and religious mosaic.