Moon here today

At the invitation of the Government, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Mrs Ban Soon-taek, is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka today for a three-day visit, where he will meet with President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and other members of the Government and of the Parliament.

The Secretary-General will travel to Galle on September 1, where he will participate in an event involving youth under the theme ‘Reconciliation and Coexistence: Role of Youth’.

On September 2, the Secretary-General will travel to Jaffna, where he is expected to visit a resettlement site.

During the visit, the Secretary-General will also meet with several Cabinet Ministers including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samaraweera; the Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya and Political Party Leaders; and civil society representatives.

At the invitation of the Chairperson and Board of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS), the Secretary-General will speak at an event in Colombo on 2 September on ‘Sustaining Peace – Achieving Sustainable Development Goals’, focusing in particular on Goal 16, namely, the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development.

At the end of his visit on 2 September, the Secretary-General will address the media at a press briefing organised by the United Nations Office in Colombo.