Lanka chairs NAM Havana Ministerial Meeting
Sri Lanka was bestowed the honour of presiding over the NAM
Ministerial Meeting that concluded last Thursday in Havana.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein A. Bhaila, who led the Sri Lankan
delegation to the meeting, was invited by the host, the Cuban Foreign
Minister to chair a session on the final day of the meeting.
Earlier, Sri Lankan had been endorsed as a Vice-Chair of the NAM
Ministerial Meeting by the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned
Movement in New York in March 2009.
Meeting high representatives of the Cuban Government on the sidelines
of the NAM Ministerial Meeting, Deputy Minister Bhaila highlighted the
importance that Sri Lanka attaches to her relations with Cuba, remarking
that the 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Cuba and Sri
Lanka which falls in July 2009 will be a watershed in the traditionally
warm and friendly bilateral ties between the two countries.
Deputy Minister Bhaila also met the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and
senior officials of developing countries, which are members of the UN
Security Council, as well as members of the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC) during his two day visit to Cuba.
He briefed them on the successful humanitarian operations undertaken
by the Sri Lankan Security Forces to rescue civilians, held as human
shields by LTTE, the political process currently underway to solve the
current conflict. |