Sri Lanka-Philippine Friendship Association:

Lakshman Keerthisinghe elected President

The 35th Annual General; Meeting of the Sri Lanka Philippine Friendship Association was held at the Grand Oriental Hotel in Colombo on Friday May 31 , 2013. Senior Attorney-at-Law Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe was unanimously elected as the President on the recommendation of the out going Council, proposed by Gamini Wickrmasinghe and seconded by Rajah Sinnathurai.

Keerthi Wannakuwatte and Ms.Malawilla were elected Vice Presidents while Ms.Brookes Navaro and Gamini Wivkremasinghe were elected Honourary Secretary and Honourary Treasurer respectively.

The Patron of the Association Honourary Consul General for the Philippines in Sri Lanka William John Terence Perera delivered the welcome address while the Vote of Thanks was proposed by Senior Attorney-at-Law and a Vice Patron of the Association Joe Karunaratne. The Consul General in his welcome address said in the late nineteenth century, Philippine’s National hero Dr. Jose Rizal, thrice visited Colombo and cultivated friendships.

In order to honour this historical link, a suite in the Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo where Dr. Rizal stayed during his visits has been named as the ‘Jose Rizal Suite”. Out going President Ananda Samerasinghe, in his address outlined the projects undertaken during his tenure and thanked the members for their participation.

Keerthisinghe in his address as the President said that the main aim of the friendship association is to foster goodwill and establish and develop closer people to people links between the two Nations, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

He thanked the members and their spouses for their participation and solicited their future co-operation to make the future events and the projects of the Association successful.