Five New Envoys Present Credentials to President

Three new Ambassadors and two High Commissioners presented credentials to President Maithripala Sirisena at the President’s House, Colombo today (23).

The envoys are:

Mr. David McKinnon    –    High Commissioner of Canada

Mr. Yuri B Materiy    –    Ambassador of the Russian Federation

Mr. Mohamed Hussain Shareef    –    Ambassador of Maldives

Gen. (Retd) Shahid Ahmed Hashmat – High Commissioner for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Mr. Hussein El Saharty    –    Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt

While presenting credentials  President Sirisena requested envoys to strengthened the bilateral relations with Sri Lanka in areas such as  Trade Investment and Tourism. He said the focus of Sri Lanka’s middle path foreign policy is to establish friendship with all the nations.

 Acting Foreign Minister Wasantha Senanayake said that the new envoys have come to Sri Lanka at an important an interesting time as the country, under the leadership of President Sirisena has won the goodwill and support of the entire international community and striving towards economic development and reconciliation.

 He said the countries represented by them could utilize the current conducive atmosphere for further expansion of economic ties, investments and bilateral trade.