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මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

යුරෝපා සංගමය/ෂෙන්ගන් කලාපය විසින් සංචාරක සීමාවන් ඉවත් කිරීම

ආරම්භයේ දී, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත් නොවන රටවල් 15 ට අඩු ලැයිස්තුවක් සඳහා 2020 ජූලි 1 වැනි දින සිට සිය බාහිර දේශසීමා නැවත විවෘත කිරීමට යුරෝපා සංගමය තීරණය කළ බව විදේශ සබඳතා අමාත්‍යාංශය සඳහන් කරයි.

මෙම ලැයිස්තුවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ද ඇතුළත් කිරීම සඳහා සක්‍රීයව ඉල්ලීම් කරමින් සිටින, බ්‍රසල්ස් හි යුරෝපා සංගමය සඳහා අක්ත ගන්වා ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය වෙත යුරෝපා කොමිසම දන්වා සිටියේ, සිය ගුවන්තොටුපලවල් විවෘත නොකළ හෝ යුරෝපා සංගම් කලාපයෙන් පැමිණෙන අමුත්තන් භාරනොගත් රටවල් පිළිබඳව තවමත් සලකා බලා නොමැති බවයි. රටවල පවතින වසංගත රෝග තත්ත්වය, සංචාරය අතරතුර දී වසංගතය මැඩපැවැත්වීමේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීමට ඇති හැකියාව සහ එම රට යුරෝපා සංගම් රටවල් සඳහා සිය සංචාරක සීමාවන් ඉවත් කර තිබේද නැද්ද යන කරුණුවල ප්‍රගතිය මත පදනම්ව, මෙම ලැයිස්තුව ක්‍රම ක්‍රමයෙන් පුළුල් කරන බව තානාපති කාර්යාලය වෙත තවදුරටත් දැනුම් දෙන ලදී.

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ஊடக வெளியீடு

ஐரோப்பிய ஒன்றியம் / ஷெங்கன் பிராந்தியத்தால் பயணக் கட்டுப்பாடுகள் நீக்கம்

ஆரம்பக் கட்டமாக இலங்கை உள்ளடங்காத 15 க்கும் குறைவான நாடுகளுக்கு தனது வெளியக எல்லைகளை 2020 ஜூலை 1 ஆம் திகதி முதல் மீண்டும் திறப்பதற்கு ஐரோப்பிய ஒன்றியம் தீர்மானித்துள்ளதாக வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு அறியத்தருகின்றது.

தமது விமான நிலையங்களைத் திறக்காத அல்லது ஐரோப்பிய ஒன்றியப் பிராந்தியத்திலிருந்து பிரயாணிகளை ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளாத நாடுகள் இன்னும் பரிசீலிக்கப்படவில்லை என இந்தப் பட்டியலில் இலங்கையையும் உள்ளடக்குவதற்காக தீவிரமாக முயற்சித்து வரும் ஐரோப்பிய ஒன்றியத்திற்கு அங்கீகாரம் பெற்றுள்ள பிரஸ்ஸல்ஸிலுள்ள இலங்கைத் தூதரகத்திற்கு ஐரோப்பிய ஆணைக்குழுவால் அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. நாடுகளிலுள்ள தொற்றுநோய் சார்ந்த சூழ்நிலையில் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள முன்னேற்றம், பயணத்தின்போதான கட்டுப்பாட்டு நடவடிக்கைகளைப் பயன்படுத்துவதற்கான திறன் மற்றும் அந்த நாடு ஐரோப்பிய ஒன்றிய நாடுகளுக்கான பயணக் கட்டுப்பாடுகளை நீக்கியுள்ளதா இல்லையா என்பதைப் பொறுத்து பட்டியல் படிப்படியாக விரிவாக்கம் செய்யப்படும் என தூதரகத்திற்கு மேலும் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

Comprehensive measures taken by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, in close coordination with the key Government Economic Agencies and the private sector to address and mitigate the impact of COVID 19 particularly on Sri Lankan exports, has helped in sustaining and regaining lost markets for traditional Sri Lankan exports, while enabling new opportunities. Exportswhich accounted for US $ 277 Million in April 2020, had increased to US $606 Million in May, and is expected to grow in the coming months, in line with the revised projections.

This observation was made by the Foreign Ministry’s Additional Secretary/Economic Affairs P.M. Amza, during an interview on Ada Derana on 10 June 2020, held to discuss the economic impact of COVID-19, and its demands and challenges for Sri Lanka.

The Additional Secretary said, since the outbreak of the COVID-19, the Ministry’s ‘Economic Diplomacy Programme’ has been playing a pivotal catalyst role, in partnership with Agencies such as the Export Development Board and the Tea Board, in facilitating Sri Lankan exporters to overcome the adverse impact of COVID 19. Despite the challenging circumstances, including disruptions to the global supply chains and logistics, the proactive stance of the Ministry and Missions abroad has seen the emergence of new market destinations as well as opportunity to regain the markets for Traditional Sri Lankan exports such as Tea, Rubber and fresh/processed food. As a result of the evolving global COVID 19 situation, Sri Lanka has also been able to target new products and markets particularly for Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and rubber based products (Face masks – 12 markets, protective gowns – 17 markets, Rubber Gloves – 12, Hand sanitizers – 12). Interventions made by the Ministry saw 344 MT and 220 MT of Ceylon Tea exported to Turkey and Egypt and 30 MTof frozen food to Oman, under challenging circumstances.

At the request of the Joint Apparel Forum of Sri Lanka (JAAF), the Ministry together with the Sri Lankan Missions have also successfully coordinated sourcing raw materials for the production of PPEs, thus catering to the rising demand from many countries. 53 potential suppliers forspecific raw materials were identified.

In the context of the post COVID 19, the Ministry together with the EDB has additionally identified 15 potential sectors with a view to capture new markets and strengthen the demand in the existing markets. Comprehensive measures targeting coconut, processed food, seafood, spices and concentrates, electronics and electrical, logistics, printing, ceramic and porcelain,Ayurveda and herbals, wellness, ICT/BPM, marine and offshore engineering, construction, and boat and ship building sectors are being mapped out taking the current constraints, challenges as well as opportunities into account. As a way forward, webinars and virtual B2B meetings are being planned by the EDB for priority sectors with increased demand including Ayurveda and herbal, ceramic and porcelain, boat and ship building, and electronics and electrical sectors.

The Ministry, Missions abroad and the private sector, are also working in collaboration with Sri Lankan Airlines, which has been one of the few carriers which has continued to operate cargo flights internationally. The viability of these flights has been enhanced, where possible, by also bringing back Overseas Sri Lankans seeking to be repatriated, making both passenger and cargo transport more cost effective to all parties.

Video Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NJIvpdSbiJs

Below is the transcript of Additional Secretary/Economic Affairs P.M. Amza, during the interview on Ada Derana on 10 June 2020

Reporter- Export sectors across the world have seen significant downturn following COVID-19 outbreak and are as yet showing very slow signs of recovery as governments have been rushing to implement the measures to stabilize the economic impact of the virus with the key focus on exports. Now in Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Foreign Relations has been instrumental in assisting in the country’s export sector in recalibrating their operations to suit the sector recording the historic decrease by 64% 277.4 Million US dollars from 772.5 million US dollars in export revenue recorded in April 2019. I’ve invited the Additional Secretary for Economic Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Ambassador P.M. Amza. Thank you very much for joining us tonight on the live discussion to talk about the exports and the intervention and what measures the Foreign Ministry will take.

Mr. P.M. Amza – Thank you, first of all for having us today and giving us the opportunity of talking to you on this very important and timely subject and in fact, the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry, as you know, we have been working with 67 missions abroad and the High Commissions, Embassies, Consulate Generals and Deputy High Commission and we also work along with the line agencies here: namely the EDB, BOI, the Tourism Board and the Foreign Employment Bureau. So in fact traditionally we have been working through these organizations giving our Missions targets. In fact it was started in 2018 when the current Foreign Secretary became the Additional Secretary, and we have introduced the Economic Diplomacy programme where we have given the Missions the targets and also help the Missions to achieve those targets including finding resources, but when it comes to COVID-19 I think, we all even the entire world had been confused on how to deal with our economy and we, as early as late March, I remember the first communication to our Missions went out on the 30th of March Circular No. 100 asking our Missions to provide details under five categories and particularly to  the market updates in their respective accreditations and concurrent  accreditations and we were able to get 59 market reports and  altogether 59 reports were published in the EDB website for the exporters and the chambers to know, to give you a summary of that. And we had got the summary under four categories particularly as you know our main exports are in apparel and the Tea as well as  rubber products and all three  items we were finding opportunities particularly.

Reporter  – this is the post COVID time

Mr. P M Amza – In the post COVID time –in fact it started in late March and April and May and the summary has been we had demand for Tea in 24 countries, Face masks in 26 countries.  PPEs in 15 countries, Rubber gloves in 22 countries and Processed foods in 16 countries and Vegetables and Fruits in 14 countries.

Reporter – This, in the given current challenges and ongoing difficulties show that still there is demand for Sri Lankan exports and we are looking at a strategy for post COVID time also through the Foreign Ministry.

Mr. Amza – Absolutely in fact taking the example of Tea, we were able to get into the Egyptian market. I have these statistics here 220 MT of Tea and Turkey 344 MT of Tea. All those have been facilitated with the collaboration of the Tea Board whereas Tea Board was assisted by our Ministry in getting the legalization of documents. As you know we were under curfew and the Missions were also closed and we were able to diplomatically approach the Missions in Colombo from Middle East as well as Turkey. We were able to ask them to legalize the documents and apart from that we were able to help our producers particularly in the garment sector to source raw materials because we have our garment industries geared for certain products and when you immediately get orders for PPEs, we have serious problems of getting those exports done because we don’t have raw materials and we were very happy out of the 23 Missions we approached in South Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East, 16 Missions have come out with 53 contact points which helped our industry here to get the raw material and keep the export running and that might be the reason in April 2020, the exports were 277 Mn and it was shot up to 606 Mn provisional in May. I think if we continue this trend there is absolute opportunity for us to go according to the new set of targets which is …

Reporter – What is your new set of targets?

Mr Amza – New set of targets is 10.75 Billion which we reduced from the 18.5 Billion but I am sure to achieve this 10.75 Billion. We need to have 818 Mn average month. We have already gone to 606 Mn in May. I think if the trend continues there is absolute opportunity for us to reach the target which we have set up.

Reporter – But amidst this challenges, Ambassador Amza which we face currently also challenge to sustain the export industry because we face several shocks. What strategies and policies you are looking at because you overseeing this export development side also.

Mr. Amza – Thank you for the question. Apart from this traditional items we have been also now working with EDB and we have identified 15 sectors. The new sectors ranging from you know boat building, porcelain items, the BPO IT products and things like that. And we are now working with our Missions since this target has been done and we are now concentrating on 5 specific areas where we will be dealing with our Missions through webinars on 5 areas  namely boat and ship building, ceramic and porcelain sector, Ayurveda and herbal sector, electronic and electrical and coconut so that in the pipeline, out of 15 sectors that we have identified we have reason to believe that we can work with five sectors with our Missions, selected Missions not all the Missions, to introduce the new Markets to the world. I am sure we should be able to work because we have an excellent team in our Missions and they have been absolutely helpful.

Reporter – very quickly before we wrap up this discussion Ambassador Amza, of course at the end of the tunnel what we see for Sri Lanka because you say that new opportunities you are looking at and new ways this also requirement for standardization amidst a pandemic and the health guidelines of the health  authorities. What should the exporters know while the Foreign Ministry is dealing with the other issues of bringing Sri Lankan expatriates back to Sri Lanka and liaising with your Foreign Missions. This export sector is also the top priority

Mr. Amza – This is an unprecedented time for us and our Missions abroad. They have been facing new challenges which they have not faced before. And I am sure so far, my colleagues in the other sections in the Ministry they had been doing remarkable amount work in containing and bringing the Sri Lankans to Sri Lanka but my Division is dealing with exports and I am working with Export related industries and the Board of Investment and another agencies who are directly dealing with Economic Affairs. I am sure that we are a nation which has shown our resilience our number of field I am sure that this will be a difficult time if not that difficult may not be able to come out we have to be positive.

Reporter – Thank you very much, Secretary Amza who is in the Economic Affairs Division of the Foreign Ministry in Sri Lanka for joining us to talk about challenges and opportunities of Sri Lankan exports.

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මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත තත්ත්වයෙන් ඇති වූ අහිතකර බලපෑම් මඟහරවා ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලාංකික අපනයනකරුවන් සඳහා විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ සහයෝගය

කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත තත්ත්වය හමුවේ විශේෂයෙන්  ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සාම්ප්‍රදායික අපනයන සඳහා අහිමි වූ වෙළඳපල, යථා තත්ත්වයෙන් පවත්වා ගෙන යාමට සහ නැවත අත්පත් කර ගනිමින් නව අවස්ථා සක්‍රීය කර ශ්‍රී ලාංකික අපනයන කෙරෙහි ඇති කර ඇති බලපෑම අවම කිරීම සඳහා විදේශ සබඳතා අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් රජයේ අනෙකුත් ප්‍රධාන ආර්ථික නියෝජිතායතන සහ පෞද්ගලික අංශය සමඟ සමීප සම්බන්ධීකරණයෙන් යුතුව පුළුල් ක්‍රියාමාර්ග රැසක් මේ වන විට ගෙන ඇත.  2020 අප්‍රේල් මාසයේ දී ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 277 ක්ව පැවති අපනයන ආදායම, මැයි මාසයේ දී ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 606 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති අතර, සංශෝධිත ප‍්‍රක්ෂේපණවලට අනුව එය ඉදිරි මාසවල දී වර්ධනය වනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත තත්ත්වයෙහි ආර්ථික බලපෑම සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එයින් එල්ල වන ඉල්ලීම් හා අභියෝග පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කිරීම සඳහා 2020 ජුනි 10 වැනි දින ‘අද දෙරණ’ සමඟ පැවති සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක දී විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ආර්ථික කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අතිරේක ලේකම් පී.එම්. අම්සා මහතා මෙම ප්‍රකාශය සිදුකළේය.

කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත  ව්‍යාප්තිය ආරම්භ වූ අවස්ථාවේ සිට, එයින් ඇතිවන අහිතකර බලපෑම් මැඩපවත්වාගැනීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයනකරුවන්ට පහසුකම් සැලසීම පිණිස, මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ‘ආර්ථික රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික වැඩසටහන’ අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය සහ තේ මණ්ඩලය වැනි නියෝජිතායතන සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් යුතුව වැදගත් උත්ප්‍රේරක කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කරමින් සිටින බව අතිරේක ලේකම්වරයා පැවසීය. ගෝලීය සැපයුම් දාමයන් හා සැපයුම් කටයුතු බිඳවැටීම් ඇතුළු අභියෝගාත්මක තත්වයන් මධ්‍යයේ වුවද, මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශයේ සහ විදේශ දූත මණ්ඩලවල ක්‍රියාකාරී ස්ථාවරය මඟින් නව වෙළඳපල ස්ථාන සොයා ගැනීම මෙන්ම, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තේ, රබර් සහ නැවුම්/සැකසූ ආහාර වැනි අපනයන සඳහා වූ සාම්ප්‍රදායික වෙළඳපල නැවත අත්පත් කර ගැනීමට අවස්ථාව සලසා දී තිබේ. විකාශනය වෙමින් පවතින ගෝලීය කොවිඩ්-19 තත්ත්වයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස, පුද්ගලික සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්ෂණ උපකරණ සහ රබර් මත පදනම් වූ  නව නිෂ්පාදනයන්ට අදාළ වූ  වෙළඳපොළ ඉලක්ක කරගත් අපනයන කටයුතු වර්ධනය කර ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට හැකි වී තිබේ (මුහුණු ආවරණ සදහා නව වෙළඳපොළ 12 ක් ද, ආරක්ෂිත ගවුම්  සදහා නව වෙළඳපොළ 17 ක් ද, රබර් අත්වැසුම් සදහා නව වෙළඳපොළ 12ක් ද , අත් සනීපාරක්ෂක ද්‍රව්‍ය සදහා නව වෙළඳපොළ 12ක් ද වශයෙන් මේ වන විට අපනයනයන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ). මෙම අමාත්‍යංශය විසින් කරන ලද මැදිහත්වීම් තුළින්, අභියෝගාත්මක තත්වයන් යටතේ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තේ මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 344 ක් තුර්කියට ද  මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 220 ක්  ඊජිප්තුවට ද අපනයනය කර ඇති අතර, ශීත කළ ආහාර මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 30 ක් ඕමානයට අපනයනය කර ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඒකාබද්ධ ඇඟලුම් සංසදයේ (JAAF) ඉල්ලීම පරිදි, මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩල එක්ව පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක උපකරණ නිෂ්පාදනය සඳහා  අවශ්‍ය අමුද්‍රව්‍ය ලබාගත හැකි ස්ථාන සාර්ථකව සම්බන්ධීකරණය කර ඇති අතර, එමඟින් බොහෝ රටවලින් පැමිණෙන ඉහළ යන ඉල්ලුමට සරිලන සේ අදාළ නිෂ්පාදන වෙළදපොළට සැපයීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අවස්ථාව උදා වී ඇත. මෙහිදී  නිශ්චිතව අමුද්‍රව්‍ය සැපයිය හැකි සැපයුම්කරුවන් 53 දෙනෙකු මේ වන විට හදුනාගෙන ඇත.

පශ්චාත් කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත තත්ත්වය හමුවේදී, මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය සහ අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය එක්ව නව වෙළඳපොළවල් අත්පත් කර ගැනීමට සහ පවත්නා වෙළඳපොළවල ඉල්ලුම ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ අරමුණින් යුතුව, ඉදිරි කාලය තුළ දී ඉල්ලුම වැඩිවිය හැකි අපනයන ක්ෂේත්‍ර 15 ක් මේ වන විට හඳුනාගෙන තිබේ. වර්තමානයේ සමස්ත ලෝකයේම පවතින අවහිරතා, අභියෝග සහ අවස්ථාවන් සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින්, පොල්, සැකසූ ආහාර, මුහුදු ආහාර, කුළුබඩු සහ සාන්ද්‍රිත ද්‍රව්‍ය, ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික් හා විදුලි උපකරණ, සැපයුම් සේවා, මුද්‍රණ කටයුතු, පිඟන් සහ පෝසිලේන් භාණ්ඩ, ආයුර්වේද සහ ශාකසාර, ශරීර සුවතා නිෂ්පාදන, තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණය/ව්‍යාපාර ක්‍රියාවලි කළමනාකරණය, සමුද්‍ර හා අක්වෙරළ ඉංජිනේරු කටයුතු, ඉදිකිරීම් සහ බෝට්ටු හා නැව් තැනීම ආදී වූ ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් ඉලක්ක කරගත් පුළුල් ක්‍රියාමාර්ග මේ අනුව සැලසුම් කෙරෙමින් පවතී. මෙහි ඉදිරි පියවරක් ලෙස, ආයුර්වේද හා ශාකසාර, පිඟන් සහ පෝසිලේන්, බෝට්ටු සහ නැව් තැනීම, ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික් හා විදුලි අංශ ඇතුළුව, ඉහළ යමින් පවතින ඉල්ලුමට අනුව සකස් කරගත් ප්‍රමුඛතා අනුව එකකට පසු එකක් ලෙස සිදුකෙරෙන වෙබ්නාර් සහ වීඩියෝ රැස්වීම් අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය විසින් සැලසුම් කොට ඇත.

මෙම කර්තව්‍යයේ දී, විදේශ සබදතා අමාත්‍යාංශය විදේශ දූත මණ්ඩල සහ පෞද්ගලික අංශය සමග ද, මෙම අවස්ථාවේදී ජාත්‍යන්තරව භාණ්ඩ ප්‍රවාහනය අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වාගෙන යන ගුවන් සමාගම් කිහිපයෙන් එකක් වන ශ්‍රී ලංකන් ගුවන් සේවය සමඟ ද ඉතා සහයෝගයෙන් කටයුතු කරමින් සිටියි. හැකි සෑම අවස්ථාවකදීම නැවත මෙරටට පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂාවෙන් සිටින විදේශගත ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් නැවත ගෙන්වා ගැනීම තුළින් ද  මෙම ගුවන් ගමන්වල ශක්‍යතාව වැඩිදියුණු  කර ඇති අතර, එමඟින් මගීන් සහ භාණ්ඩ ප්‍රවාහනය යන දෙකම සියලු පාර්ශ්වයන්ට වඩාත් ලාභදායී ලෙස හැසිරවීමට අවස්ථාව උදා වී ඇත.

විදේශ සබඳතා අමාත්‍යාංශය

කොළඹ

2020 ජුනි 11 වැනි දින

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ஊடக வெளியீடு

கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோயின் பொருளாதாரத் தாக்கங்களும், இலங்கைக்கான அதன் கேள்விகளும் சவால்களும் என்ற தொனிப்பொருளில் கலந்துரையாடுவதற்காக 2020 ஜூன் 10ஆந் திகதி அத தெரன தொலைக்காட்சியில் இடம்பெற்ற நேர்காணலின் போது, வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சின் பொருளாதார விவகாரங்கள் பிரிவின் மேலதிக செயலாளர் பி.எம். அம்சா இந்தக் கருத்துக்களைத் தெரிவித்தார்.

கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோய் நிலைமை முதல், அதன் பாதிப்புக்களிலிருந்து மீளுவதற்காக, ஏற்றுமதி அபிவிருத்தி சபை மற்றும் தேயிலை சபை போன்ற முகவர் நிறுவனங்களுடன் இணைந்து அமைச்சின் ‘பொருளாதார இராஜதந்திரத் திட்டம்’ இலங்கை ஏற்றுமதியாளர்கள் கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோயின் பாதிப்புக்களிலிருந்து மீண்டு, ஏற்றுமதிகளை மேற்கொள்வது தொடர்பில் ஒரு முக்கிய வினையூக்கியாக செயற்பட்டு வருகின்றது என மேலதிக செயலாளர் தெரிவித்தார். உலகளாவிய விநியோகச் சங்கிலிகள் மற்றும் பரிமாற்றம் செய்து விநியோகித்தல் போன்ற செயற்பாடுகளுக்கான இடையூறுகள் உட்பட சவாலான சூழ்நிலைகள் இருந்தபோதிலும், அமைச்சு மற்றும் வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள தூதரகங்களின் உறுதியான நிலைப்பாட்டின் காரணமாக, புதிய சந்தை இலக்குகள் தோற்றுவிக்கப்பட்டு, தேயிலை, ரப்பர் மற்றும் புதிய / பதப்படுத்தப்பட்ட உணவு போன்ற இலங்கையின் பாரம்பரிய ஏற்றுமதிப் பொருட்களுக்கான சந்தைகளை மீண்டும் பெற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்கள் ஏற்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளன. உலகளாவிய ரீதியில் வளர்ந்து வரும் கோவிட்-19 சூழ்நிலையின் விளைவாக, குறிப்பாக தனிப்பட்ட பாதுகாப்பு உபகரணங்கள் மற்றும் ரப்பர் சார்ந்த தயாரிப்புக்கள் (முகமூடிகள் – 12 சந்தைகள், பாதுகாப்பு ஆடைகள் – 17 சந்தைகள், ரப்பர் கையுறைகள் – 12, கை தொற்று நீக்கி சுத்திகரிப்பான்கள் – 12) போன்ற புதிய தயாரிப்புக்கள் மற்றும் சந்தைகளை இலக்காகக் கொள்வதற்கு இலங்கைக்கு இயலுமாக அமைந்தது. அமைச்சின் தலையீடுகளினால், இந்த சவாலான சூழ்நிலையில், 344 மெட்ரிக் டொன் மற்றும் 220 மெட்ரிக் டொன் இலங்கைத் தேயிலை முறையே துருக்கி மற்றும் எகிப்துக்கும், 30 மெட்ரிக் டொன் உறைந்த உணவுகள் ஓமானுக்கும் ஏற்றுமதி செய்யப்பட்டன.

இலங்கையின் இணைந்த ஆடை மன்றத்தின் வேண்டுகோளின் பேரில், தனிப்பட்ட பாதுகாப்பு உபகரணங்களை உற்பத்தி செய்வதற்கான மூலப்பொருட்களை இலங்கைத் தூதரகங்களுடன் இணைந்து அமைச்சு வெற்றிகரமாக ஒருங்கிணைப்பதனால், பல நாடுகளின் அதிகரித்து வரும் தேவைகளைப் பூர்த்தி செய்வதற்கு வழிவகுக்கின்றது. குறிப்பிட்ட மூலப்பொருட்களுக்கான 53 சாத்தியமான விநியோகஸ்த்தர்கள் அடையாளம் காணப்பட்டனர்.

கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோய் நிலைமைக்குப் பிந்தைய சூழலில், புதிய சந்தைகளை கைப்பற்றுவதற்கும், தற்போதுள்ள சந்தைகளில் தேவையை வலுப்படுத்துவதற்குமான நோக்கத்துடன் ஏற்றுமதி அபிவிருத்தி சபையுடன் இணைந்து அமைச்சு மேலதிகமாக 15 சாத்தியமான துறைகளை அடையாளம் கண்டுள்ளது. தற்போதைய தடைகள், சவால்கள் மற்றும் வாய்ப்புக்களை கருத்தில் கொண்டு, தேங்காய், பதப்படுத்தப்பட்ட உணவு, கடல் உணவு, சுவையூட்டிகள் மற்றும் செறிவூட்டிகள், மின்னணுவியல் மற்றும் இலத்திரணியல், பரிமாற்றம் செய்து விநியோகித்தல், அச்சிடுதல், மட்பாண்டம் மற்றும் பீங்கான், ஆயுர்வேதம் மற்றும் மூலிகைகள், ஆரோக்கியம், தகவல் தொடர்பாடல் தொழினுட்பம் / வர்த்தக செயன்முறை நிர்வாகம், சமுத்திரம் மற்றும் கடல் பொறியியல், கட்டுமானம், படகு மற்றும் கப்பல் கட்டும் துறைகளை இலக்கு வைத்து விரிவான நடவடிக்கைகள் முன்னெடுக்கப்பட்டு வருகின்றன. முன்னோக்கிச் செல்லும் ஒரு சந்தர்ப்பமாக, தேவைகள் அதிகரித்துள்ள ஆயுர்வேதம் மற்றும் மூலிகை, மட்பாண்டம் மற்றும் பீங்கான், படகு மற்றும் கப்பல் கட்டுமானம், மின்னணுவியல் மற்றும் இலத்திரணியல் உள்ளிட்ட முன்னுரிமை மிகுந்த துறைகளுக்காக வெபினார்கள் மற்றும் இணையவழி பி 2 பி சந்திப்புக்கள் ஏற்றுமதி அபிவிருத்தி சபையினால் திட்டமிடப்பட்டுள்ளன.

சர்வதேச அளவில் சரக்கு விமானங்களை தொடர்ச்சியாக இயக்கி வரும் விமான சேவைகள் சிலவற்றுள் ஒன்றான ஸ்ரீ லங்கன் எயார்லைன்ஸூடன் இணைந்து அமைச்சு, வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள தூதரகங்கள் மற்றும் தனியார் துறை ஆகியன செயற்படுகின்றன. நாட்டிற்கு மீளத் திரும்பி வர விரும்பும் வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்களை மீண்டும் அழைத்து வருவதன் காரணமாக, பயணிகள் மற்றும் சரக்குப் போக்குவரத்து ஆகிய இரண்டையும் அனைத்து தரப்பினருக்கும் ஏதுவான செலவுகளில் மேற்கொள்வதற்கு வழிவகுப்பதனால் இந்த விமானங்களின் நம்பகத்தன்மை மேம்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது.

வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு

கொழும்பு

11 ஜூன் 2020

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Foreign Relations, Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has reassured that the repatriation of migrant workers from the Middle East as well as other regions will continue, in a manner sensitive to the vulnerability of these communities, particularly those who have lost legal status and/or employment in their host countries. This will be done in consultation with the COVID Task Force, in view of the considerable strain presently placed on the health sector and quarantine centres following the increased number of COVID infected persons who have recently returned from Kuwait. It was noted that it is proposed to explore the possibility of getting PCR tests done prior to boarding all flights in future.

The Minister made these observations at a meeting held this evening (29 May 2020) at the Foreign Ministry attended by Foreign Secretary RavinathaAryasinha, Ministry of Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations SecretarySarathAbeygunawardana, Chairman Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE) Kamal Ratwatte, and relevant officials of the two ministries and the SLBFE.

It was noted that according to the latest update, as at 27 May, 42,522 persons from 123 countries were seeking to return to Sri Lanka. Of these, migrant workers amounted to 34,881 of which 20,893 are living in the Middle East, while 4,961 were short term visa holders, and 2,016 were students.

Taking stock of the developments concerning those repatriated from Kuwait, it was noted that of the 466 returnees, 379 were those benefiting from the amnesty who had surrendered to the camps between 21-25 April and had been awaiting repatriation. 87 were those from Kuwaiti detention centres and prisons. Through Diplomatic Notes on 11 and 14 May 2020, prior to their eventual departure from Kuwait on two Kuwait Airways flights on 19 May, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Kuwait had requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait to conduct PCR tests on those being repatriated. However the Mission was informed that this would not be possible and that no passenger with COVID symptoms would be allowed to board the aircraft. It had also been stated that PCR tests had not been done on any of the returnees from other countries leaving Kuwait.

It was pointed out that at present the greatest vulnerability was in the Maldives, but particularly in Greater Male where a red alert has been declared by the Maldivian Government, which has explicitly requested foreign governments to evacuate their citizens. Of approximately 7000 presently seeking repatriation from the Maldives, almost 2000 are in Greater Male. On 14 May, 284 were repatriated and special approval had to be secured to evacuate a few medical emergency cases from outer Male. The Foreign Ministry has consulted the Maldivian authorities, who have expressed willingness for PCR tests to be done in advance on Sri Lankans to be repatriated, provided that PCR test kits and medical personnel from Sri Lanka would be made available to conduct these tests.

At the request of the COVID Task Force, the Foreign Relations Ministry has also consulted the other capitals from where repatriation flights are planned to the Middle East and elsewhere, to ascertain the possibility of conducting PCR tests prior to taking flights. It was noted that in most, PCR testing is only available for those showing serious symptoms due to limited facilities.

The SLBFE informed the meeting that to bolster the present capacity, four SLBFE training centres have been made available to the COVID Task Force for quarantine purposes in Haliella, Tangalle, Dambulla and Polonnaruwa.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SLBFE will continue to support migrant communities abroad through the provision of dry rations and medicines, and helping with medical emergencies in their locations, while continuing to facilitate repatriation for those seeking to do so.

It was reiterated that the determination of those to be repatriated is based on vulnerability, conscious that this has changed from time to time. Starting with the initial wave of student repatriations, presently the concerned Missions strictly follow the chronological order in which the various categories – students, short term visitors and migrant workers, have registered their interest to return with the Missions. Other than for the Maldives, where all are deemed to be equally vulnerable in Greater Male, in the 15 other stations where SLBFE officers operate, deciding who in the migrant category should be prioritized, is done by the Head of Mission/Post in consultation with the SLBFE representative attached to the respective Mission. Priority is given to those who have lost their legal status or employment. Additionally a few exceptions with medical emergencies with documentary evidence, have been considered as special cases for repatriation. Missions have been instructed to strictly adhere to this protocol.

Special discussion chaired by Hon. Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Information and Mass Media, Higher Education, Technology and Innovation and Co- Cabinet Spokesperson was held today (24 May) at the Department of Government Information. Officials of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment(SLBFE) and the Ministry of Foreign Relations participated at the discussion.

Full recording of the discussion is at:  https://www.facebook.com/newslk/videos/623627001844398/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

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President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, “I will not allow any room for attempts to discredit and destroy the dignity of our war heroes who made countless sacrifices to bring peace to entire Sri Lanka.

…..If any international body or organization continuously target our country and our war heroes, using baseless allegations, I will also not hesitate to withdraw Sri Lanka from such bodies or organizations”

President Rajapaksa made this comment today (19 May) during his speech at the Ranaviru Day commemoration.

The full text of the speech is below:

Reverend Maha Sanga representing Maha Nayaka Theros and Anu Nayaka Theros of Malwatta and Asgiriya Chapters, Amarapura and Ramannya Nikayas,

His Eminence Cardinal,

Hindu Kurukkal leader, Islam Mowlawi,

• Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa, former President and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,
• Hon. Maithripala Sirisena, former President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,
• Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda,
• Marshal of the Air Force Roshan Gunatilleke, Governor of the Western Province
• Secretary to the President,
• Secretary Defence,
• Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force,
• Acting Inspector General of Police, Director General of the Department of Civil Defence,
• Distinguished guests,
• War heroes of Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and Civil Defence,
• Dear parents, wives, sons and daughters of war heroes,

May 19th is a very important milestone in the history of Sri Lanka.

11 years ago on a day like this, on May 19th 2009, we completely defeated the separatist terrorism which had been a curse to the country for nearly 30 years.

It was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who gave the leadership for this battle in his capacity as the Commander-in-Chief.

With the end of terrorism, an environment where people could live without fear or anxiety and enjoy their human rights freely was created.

After a period of 30 years, we ensured democracy and build an atmosphere where free and fair elections could be held.

The atmosphere where people can travel freely without any restrictions to any place of the country was restored.

Our war heroes and their families made immense sacrifices to usher in peace to the country which was engulfed in terror.

War is not a bed of roses. Especially, the war heroes had to face numerous bitter experiences and difficulties when battling one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world which did not respect law.

During those 30 years, helpless civilians got killed everywhere in the country. A large number of lives and properties were lost due to suicide attacks, bombing in buses, trains and buildings carried out by the terrorists.

The prime objective of the Humanitarian Mission was to bring lasting peace in the country.

Because of the exceptional sacrifices made by our war heroes, today we have the opportunity to live in peace and harmony in a unitary state.

Our country, nourished by Buddhist philosophy, possesses a form of administration that an oasis for all religions and all nationalities.

Throughout its history, people in this country including Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher have had equal rights.

The motive of the extremists was to divide us. If they were successful in their attempt, our history could have taken a different course. Sri Lanka could have become a country where communities hate each other, engage in continuous battles for borders, fear of war is a common norm of life and another hapless and divided country.

The honor of liberating the country from this catastrophe should be given to all our heroic troops who fought for the peace in our country for a long time.

We remember with immense gratitude, all the war heroes including General Kobbekaduwa and General Vijaya Wimalarathna who fought for this victory for more than 3 decades and laid their lives for the country.

As an officer who was engaged in active service for around 20 years, later as the Secretary Defence for 10 years as well as a citizen I am very well aware of the sacrifices made by our war heroes.

Pain of the war is not strange to me.

Therefore, I will not allow any room for attempts to discredit and destroy the dignity of our war heroes who made countless sacrifices to bring peace to entire Sri Lanka.

I assure you that under my administration, we will take every measure always to protect the dignity of our heroic forces.

It is a national responsibility to ensure their rights.

In a situation where even leaders of powerful countries have emphatically stated that they would not allow any action against their war heroes, in a small country like ours where our war heroes have sacrificed so much, I will not allow anyone to exert undue pressure on them or harass them.

If any international body or organization continuously target our country and our war heroes, using baseless allegations, I will also not hesitate to withdraw Sri Lanka from such bodies or organizations.

We pay the tribute of the nation to all war heroes and their families who contributed to the battle against separatism for 3 decades.

The highest honour that can be bestowed on them is to transform this country which was protected by them by laying their lives to a land where every citizenry can live in peace, harmony and with dignity.

At this War Memorial, I invite all patriotic citizens to make your fullest contribution towards this endeavor.

I thank you all.

May the noble Triple Gem bless you.

Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has called on migrant workers as well as students and parents, to carefully calibrate the effect repatriation at this time could have on their jobs and education, before making decisions to seek to return to Sri Lanka, availing of the limited flights being operated by the Government for those facing compelling circumstances. He made this observation yesterday (16 May 2020) in an appearance on the ‘News at 9’ on Sri Lanka Rupavahini, where he noted that over 38,000 Sri Lankans are seeking to be repatriated, of that nearly 28,000 migrant workers. The comments made by the Secretary are below;

Priority right now of the Government following the Cabinet Paper presented by my Minister Dinesh Gunawardena two weeks ago, is to bring back the migrant worker category which needs to come, but more so in some cases have to come. Because they have gone out of status and are illegal, they also as a result of being illegal do not have access to the health facilities and anything else in those countries. There are many who have been thrown out of jobs. They are pretty much destitute. Thereafter we can consider those who want to come, but who have jobs and who simply want to come on holiday to avoid any Corona vulnerability.

Our plea to these employees, as we did to students some time ago, is to ask them to carefully calibrate the possible loss of jobs or loss of educational opportunity or major delays which can occur from their coming. Because in students, we particularly find that in some places, one set of parents want children to come, another set of parents want children to stay and finish their exams. So, while I know these are personal choices alright, I think there must be some rationality in doing this. Because from the Foreign Ministry perspectives, we are working very hard to get them back today, but I know that one month, two months from now, we will once again be asked to try to reconcile their status as students, when there are difficulties for them to get back or lose out on semester. It is the same with those who lose their employment.

So as much as the Foreign Ministry and the Government is trying to bring back people, that these people who are wanting to return, make a very careful assessment of their essential needs, as against just wanting to come for the short term. This may not be the best time to use this limited window and have to go into quarantine for 21 days when they come here as well.

We are going to try as much as possible to ensure that those who stay back are assisted to the extent possible, particularly the most vulnerable through the various networks of our 67 Missions, 16 where SLBFE is also present, to try and provide dry rations and where necessary medicines so that the problems they face are managed out there where they are.

As for those on short term visits, we have to bring them back. They have nowhere to go. We are conscious of that. The difficulty to some extent is the fact that they are spread all over and Sri Lankan Airlines, even cargo flights which now are flying, are not flying out to many of these capitals. So, while we are integrating them in flights already coming, how we bring them all back is a matter which is at the moment being discussed at the highest levels.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

බලපෑමට ලක් වූ අවස්ථාවක දී හැර, නැවත මෙරටට පැමිණීමේ සැලසුම් පිළිබඳව යළි සිතා බලන ලෙස විදේශ ලේකම් එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී

බලපෑම්වලට මුහුණ දී සිටින අය වෙනුවෙන් මෙම රජය විසින් මෙහෙයවනු ලබන සීමිත ගුවන් ගමන්වලින් ප්‍රයෝජන ගනිමින්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ආපසු පැමිණීමට  සඳහා තීරණය කිරීමට පෙර, එසේ පැමිණීමෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ රැකියා හා අධ්‍යාපනය කෙරෙහි ඇතිවිය හැකි බලපෑම පිළිබඳව සියුම්ව සලකාබලන ලෙස විදේශ ලේකම් රවිනාථ ආර්යසිංහ මහතා සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගෙන් මෙන්ම ශිෂ්‍යයින්ගෙන් සහ දෙමාපියන්ගෙන් ද ඉල්ලීමක් කර තිබේ. ඔහු ඊයේ (2020 මැයි 16) දින ශ්‍රී ලංකා රූපවාහිනියේ රාත්‍රී 9.00 ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශයට අදහස් දක්වමින්, ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් 38,000 කට වැඩි පිරිසක් ආපසු සියරට පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන බවත්, එයින් 28,000 කට ආසන්න සංඛ්‍යාවක් සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන් වන බවත් සඳහන් කළේය. ලේකම්වරයා විසින් පළකරන ලද අදහස් පහත දැක්වේ.

සති දෙකකට පෙර මාගේ අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මැතිතුමා විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය පත්‍රයට අනුව, මෙම අවස්ථාවේ දී රජයේ ප්‍රමුඛතාවය වන්නේ ආපසු පැමිණීමට අවශ්‍යතාවය තිබෙන මෙන්ම, සමහර අවස්ථාවල දී පැමිණිය යුතුව තිබෙන, සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමික කාණ්ඩය ආපසු රැගෙන ඒමයි. ඔවුන් සතුව නීත්‍යානුකූලව එම රටවල රැදී සිීටීමට අවශ්‍ය වීසා හා අනෙකුත් ලිපි ලේඛණ නොමැති වීම නිසා  නීතිවිරෝධී සංක්‍රමණිකයන් බවට පත්ව ඇති අතර, ඔවුන් නීත්‍යානුකූල නොවීම හේතුවෙන් එම රටවල දී සෞඛ්‍ය පහසුකම් සහ වෙනත් කිසිදු පහසුකමක්  ලබා ගත නොහැකි තත්ත්වයට මුහුණ දී සිටියි.  එසේම රැකියාවෙන් නෙරපා හරින ලද බොහෝ දෙනෙකු ද එහි සිටිති. ඔවුන් බොහෝ දුරට අසරණ වී ඇත. මෙම පිරිස් පිළිබදව කටයුතු කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව, අපට මෙහි පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන, එහෙත් රැකියා තිබෙන අය සහ හුදෙක් කොරෝනා අවදානම වළක්වා ගැනීම සඳහා නිවාඩුවට පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන අය පිළිබඳව සලකා බැලිය හැකිය.

මීට ඉහත දී අප සිසු සිසුවියන් වෙතින් ඉල්ලා සිටියාක් මෙන්, මෙම සේවකයින් වෙතින් ද අප ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ, ඔවුන් මෙහි පැමිණීමෙන් සිදුවිය හැකි රැකියා අහිමිවීම හෝ අධ්‍යාපන අවස්ථා අහිමිවීම හෝ විශාල ප්‍රමාදයන් පිළිබඳව ප්‍රවේශමෙන් හා සියුම්ව සලකාබලන ලෙසයි. මක්නිසාද යත්, ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගත් කල, අපට විශේෂයෙන් පෙනී යන්නේ, සමහර ස්ථානවල, එක් දෙමව්පියන් පිරිසකට දරුවන් මෙහි පැමිණීම අවශ්‍ය වන අතර, තවත් දෙමව්පියන් පිරිසකට අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ දරුවන් එහිම රැඳී සිටිමින් විභාග අවසන් කිරීමයි. එබැවින්, මේවා එක් එක් පුද්ගලයාගේ පෞද්ගලික තේරීම් බව මා දන්නා අතර, මෙහි දී යම් තාර්කිකත්වයක් ද තිබිය යුතු යැයි මම සිතමි. මක්නිසාද යත්, විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ දෘෂ්ටි කෝණයෙන් බලන කල, ඔවුන් නැවත ගෙන්වා ගැනීම සඳහා අද අපි ඉතා වෙහෙස වී කටයුතු කරන නමුත්, තවත් මාසයකින් හෝ දෙකකින් ඔවුන්ට ආපසු යාම සඳහා දුෂ්කරතා ඇති වන විට හෝ එක් අධ්‍යයන වාරයක් අහිමි වන විට, ශිෂ්‍යයන් වශයෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ තත්වය සමථයකට පත් කිරීමට උත්සාහ දරන ලෙස නැවත වරක් අප වෙතින් ඉල්ලා සිටිනු ඇති බව මම දනිමි. රැකියාව අහිමි වන අය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද එය එසේම ය.

විදේශ අමාත්‍යංශය සහ රජය ජනතාව නැවත ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට උත්සාහ දරන අතරම, නැවත ආපසු පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන මෙම පුද්ගලයින් කෙටිකාලීනව පැමිණීමට නොසිතා, ඔවුන්ගේ අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය අවශ්‍යතා පිළිබඳව ඉතා ප්‍රවේසමෙන් තක්සේරු කළ යුතුය. මෙම සීමිත ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථාව භාවිතා කිරීම සඳහා හොඳම කාලය මෙය නොවිය හැකි වන අතර, ඔවුන් මෙහි පැමිණෙන විට දින 21 ක් නිරෝධායනයට ද යා යුතුව තිබේ.

 එහි නවතින අයට සහ විශේෂයෙන්ම වඩාත් අවදානමට ලක්විය හැකි අය සඳහා, ඔවුන් මුහුණ දෙන ගැටලු ඔවුන් සිටින තැනදීම කළමනාකරණය කිරීම පිණිස, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ රැකියා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශය ද නියෝජනය වන දූත මණ්ඩල 16 ඇතුළුව, විදේශවල පිහිටි අපගේ දූත මණ්ඩල 67 හි විවිධ ජාලයන් හරහා, වියළි සලාක ලබා දීමට සහ අවශ්‍ය විටෙක දී ඖෂධ ලබා දීම මඟින් හැකි තාක් දුරට උපකාර කිරීම සහතික කිරීමට අපි උත්සාහ දරන්නෙමු.

කෙටිකාලීන සංචාර සඳහා ගිය අය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගත් කල, අප විසින් ඔවුන් නැවත මෙහි රැගෙන ආ යුතුව තිබේ. ඔවුන්ට යාමට වෙනත් තැනක් නොමැත. අප ඒ පිළිබඳව දැනුවත්ව සිටින්නෙමු. යම් තරමකට ඇති දුෂ්කරතාවය වන්නේ, ඔවුන් සෑම තැනකම විසිරී සිටීම සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකන් ගුවන් සේවය, දැනට පියාසර කරන භාණ්ඩ ප්‍රවාහන යානා පවා, මෙම අගනගරයන් බොහොමයකට පියාසර නොකිරීමයි. අප දැනටමත් ඔවුන් මෙහි පැමිණෙන ගුවන් ගමන් සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ කරමින් පවතින අතර, ඔවුන් සියලු දෙනාම ආපසු රැගෙන එන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න, මේ මොහොතේ දී ඉහළම මට්ටම්වල දී සාකච්ඡා කෙරෙමින් පවතින කරුණකි.

கட்டாயமான சூழ்நிலைகளை முகங்கொடுப்போருக்காக அரசாங்கத்தால் செயற்படுத்தப்படும் மட்டுப்படுத்தப்பட்ட விமானங்களைப் பயன்படுத்தி இலங்கைக்கு மீள நாடு திரும்புவதற்கான தீர்மானங்களை மேற்கொள்வதற்கு முன்னர், இந்த நேரத்தில் அவ்வாறு நாடு திரும்புவது தமது தொழில்கள் மற்றும் கல்வியில் ஏற்படுத்தக்கூடிய விளைவுகளை கவனமாக அளவீடு செய்யுமாறு புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்கள், மாணவர்கள் மற்றும் பெற்றோர்களுக்கு வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் ரவிநாத ஆரியசிங்க அழைப்பு விடுத்துள்ளார். நேற்று (மே 16, 2020) இலங்கை ரூபவாஹினியில் இடம்பெற்ற ‘நியூஸ் அட் 9’ நிகழ்ச்சியில் கலந்து கொண்ட போது அவர் இதனைத் தெரிவித்த அதே வேளை, 38,000 க்கும் மேற்பட்ட இலங்கையர்கள் நாட்டிற்கு மீளத் திரும்புவதற்கு எதிர்பார்த்துள்ளதுடன், அவர்களுள் கிட்டத்தட்ட 28,000 பேர் புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்களாவர் எனத் தெரிவித்தார். வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் தெரிவித்த கருத்துக்கள் பின்வருமாறு:

இரண்டு வாரங்களுக்கு முன்னர் எனது அமைச்சர் தினேஷ் குணவர்தன முன்வைத்த அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரத்தைத் தொடர்ந்து, புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்களை மீண்டும் நாட்டிற்கு அழைத்து வருவதற்கு அரசாங்கம் தற்போது முன்னுரிமை வழங்குகின்ற போதிலும், இன்னும் பலர் மீண்டும் நாடு திரும்ப விரும்புகின்றனர். அவர்கள் முறையான அந்தஸ்த்தின்றி தங்கியிருப்பவர்களாவதுடன், சட்டவிரோதமானவர்கள் என்பதால், அந்த நாடுகளில் சுகாதார வசதிகள் மற்றும் வேறு எதனையும் அவர்களால் அணுகிக் கொள்ள முடியாது. தொழில்களிலிருந்து வெளியேற்றப்பட்டவர்கள் பலர் உள்ளனர். அவர்கள் மிகவும் ஆதரவற்றவர்கள். ஆனால் தொழில்களில் உள்ளவர்கள் மற்றும் கொரோனா பாதிப்பைத் தவிர்க்கும் பொருட்டு விடுமுறை நாட்களுக்காக வர விரும்புவோரை நாம் பின்னர் கருத்தில் கொள்ளலாம்.

 ழில்வாய்ப்பினை இழத்தல் அல்லது கல்வி வாய்ப்பினை இழத்தல் அல்லது மீள நாட்டிற்கு திரும்பி வருவதால் ஏற்படக்கூடிய பெரிய தாமதங்கள் குறித்து கவனமாக அளவிடுமாறு, சில காலத்திற்கு முன்பு நாங்கள் மாணவர்களிடம் கோரியதைப் போலவே இந்த ஊழியர்களிடமும் நாங்கள் கோரிக்கை முன்வைக்கின்றோம். ஏனெனில், மாணவர்களின் விடயத்தில், சில பெற்றோர் தமது பிள்ளைகள் திரும்பி நாட்டிற்கு வர வேண்டும் என விரும்புகின்றனர், மற்றும் சில பெற்றோர் தமது பிள்ளைகள் தங்கியிருந்து அவர்களது பரீட்சைகளை நிறைவு செய்ய வேண்டுமென விரும்புகின்றனர். எனவே, இவை தனிப்பட்ட விருப்புத் தெரிவுகள் என எனக்குத் தெரியும், இதை மேற்கொள்வதில் பகுத்தறிவுக் கண்ணோட்டம் இருக்க வேண்டும் என நான் நினைக்கின்றேன். ஏனெனில், வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சின் கண்ணோட்டத்தில், இன்று அவர்களை நாட்டிற்கு மீள அழைத்து வருவதில் நாங்கள் மிகவும் கடினமாக உழைக்கின்றோம். ஆனால், அவர்களது கல்வி அரையாண்டினை இழக்க நேரிடுகையில், ஒரு மாதம், இரண்டு மாதங்களின் பின்னர் மாணவர்களாகிய அவர்களின் நிலையை மீண்டும் சரிசெய்ய முயற்சிக்குமாறு மீண்டும் எம்மிடம் கோரிக்கை விடுக்கப்படும் என எனக்குத் தெரியும். தொழில்வாய்ப்பை இழப்பவர்களுக்கும் இதே நிலைதான்.

 எனவே, வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சும், அரசாங்கமும் மக்களை திரும்ப அழைத்து வர முயற்சிக்கும் அதே அளவுக்கு, திரும்பி வர விரும்பும் இந்த மக்கள், குறுகிய காலத்திற்கு வர விரும்புவதைத் தவிர்த்து, அவர்களது அத்தியாவசியத் தேவைகளை மிகவும் கவனமாக மதிப்பீடு செய்தல் வேண்டும். இந்த வரையறுக்கப்பட்ட சந்தர்ப்பத்தைப் பயன்படுத்துவதற்கு இது சிறந்த நேரமாக இருக்காது என்பதுடன், அவர்கள் இங்கு வரும்போது 21 நாட்களுக்கான தனிமைப்படுத்தலுக்கு செல்ல வேண்டும்.

 நாடு திரும்பாது பின்வாங்குவோருக்கு முடிந்தவரை உதவிகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்படுவதனை உறுதிசெய்வதற்கு நாங்கள் முடிந்தவரை முயற்சிப்போம், குறிப்பாக அவர்கள் எதிர்கொள்ளும் பிரச்சினைகளை அவர்கள் இருக்கும் இடத்திலேயே நிர்வகிக்கும் பொருட்டு, எமது 67 தூதரகங்கள் மற்றும் இலங்கை வெளிநாட்டு வேலைவாய்ப்புப் பணியகத்தின் 16 வலையமைப்புக்கள் மூலமாக மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடியவர்களுக்கு உலர் உணவுகளை வழங்குவதற்கும், மற்றும் தேவையானபோது மருந்துப் பொருட்களை வழங்குவதற்கும் முயற்சிக்கின்றோம்.

குறுகிய கால விஜயங்களில் இருப்பவர்களைப் பொறுத்தவரை, நாங்கள் அவர்களை மீண்டும் அழைத்து வர வேண்டும். அவர்கள் எங்கும் செல்ல முடியாது. நாங்கள் அதை அறிந்திருக்கின்றோம். ஓரளவிற்கு நிலவும் சிரமம் என்னவென்றால், அவர்கள் எல்லா இடங்களிலும் பரவியுள்ளனர் என்பதுடன், தற்போது சேவையிலுள்ள ஸ்ரீ லங்கன் எயார்லைன்ஸின் சரக்கு விமானங்கள் கூட இந்தத் தலைநகரங்களில் பலவற்றிற்கு செல்வதில்லை. எனவே, ஏற்கனவே வரும் விமானங்களில் விஜயம் செய்வதற்கு அவர்களை நாங்கள் ஒருங்கிணைக்கும்போது, அவர்கள் அனைவரையும் எவ்வாறு நாம் மீள அழைத்து வரப் போகின்றோம் என்பது ஒரு முக்கிய விடயமாக அமைவதுடன், அது குறித்து தற்போது மிகவும் உயர்ந்த மட்டங்களில் கலந்துரையாடப்பட்டு வருகின்றது.

வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு

கொழும்பு

 17 மே 2020

Over 38,983 Overseas Sri Lankans (OSLs) in 143 countries at present seek to return home, based on information gathered mainly through the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ Web Portal of the Ministry of Foreign Relations. This comprises 3,078 students, 4,040 short term visa holders, 27,854 Migrant workers, 3527 dependents and 484 duel citizens and others. Meanwhile since 21 April, up to now, 3600 OSLs have been repatriated from 15 countries, largely comprising foreign students and government officials on training, as well as their dependents.

Recognizing the need to collect data on vulnerable OSLs, the Ministry of Foreign Relations, with the assistance of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), on 26 March 2020 created the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ Web Portal, within a week following closure of the airport to inbound commercial flights. In parallel to the Portal, Sri Lanka Missions were also instructed to collect data on those who wish to return. The two sources, serve as the base for identifying vulnerable groups, prioritizing and repatriation.

The Contact Sri Lanka Web Portal also serves as a virtual help desk for the benefit of OSLs. According to Acting Director General, Economic Affairs (Multilateral) and Overseas Sri Lankans Anzul Jhan, since its launch, 78,033 Sri Lankans have registered on the Portal and a dedicated team operating effectively 24/7, have answered 7,788 questions posed by OSLs from across the globe – mainly on assistance on repatriation and consular issues, but also relating to other operational and policy matters.

The portal has not only been able to direct Sri Lankans to the nearest Sri Lanka Diplomatic Mission, specially where there is no Sri Lankan representation in the countries concerned, but also to help connect with vulnerable categories of Sri Lankans who are in need of food and also face medical emergencies, with provision of dry rations, medicines and in some occasions facilitating arrangements for shelter. It has also prompted streamlining issues pertaining to transfer of funds by migrants to Sri Lanka and to short term travellers and students from Sri Lanka. Some Missions have also helped students who faced issues in educational institutions and those whose employment contracts have expired to secure new employment agreements, so that they are not compelled to return due to unemployment.

Participating in a television discussion on Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation on Saturday (16 May), Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha said, the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ portal has become a reliable analytical organizational tool in forward planning and in fine-tuning the relations and direct communications between the Ministry, the Missions and the OSLs. He also added that the Ministry looks forward to expanding its utility and functions in the future.

Questioned on the manner in which the Missions abroad have responded in the face of the many challenges posed by the present pandemic, the Foreign Secretary explained to the public the complexity of the multiple tasks the Ministry and Mission staff had to simultaneously address across the globe, in an unprecedented manner. These included meeting the concerns of diplomats and tourists in Sri Lanka, securing Missions abroad, addressing the demands of those who wanted to return, easing conditions on the ground for those who wanted to remain in their host countries in collaboration with host governments and communities, securing essential supplies both medical and food, ensuring Sri Lankan exports reached their destinations and markets were found for new products such as Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs), garnering donations for the COVID-19 fund to the tune of Rs.27 million, and engaging with the WHO and other multilateral, regional and bilateral partners in leveraging Sri Lanka’s interests.

Foreign Secretary Aryasinha said, in this context, it was noteworthy that at present out of the 67 Missions of Sri Lanka, 1/3 of Missions function with officers in acting capacity from the Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS), in the absence of an accredited Ambassador/High Commissioner and also several vacant diplomatic posts. He believed this experience has given significant exposure to several young SLFS officers who were acting in the posts of Heads of Mission to face high pressure situations, taking swift and calculated decisions in analyzing the host country situations to identify vulnerabilities, while dealing with aggrieved communities. He believed that such experiences would enrich their future career and would hold them in good stead in their professional progression.

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මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

විදේශ රටවල් 143 ක සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයෝ 38,000 කට අධික පිරිසක් ආපසු සිය රට බලා පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරති

ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන්ම විදේශ සබඳතා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අමතන්න’ වෙබ් ද්වාරය හරහා රැස්කරගත් තොරතුරුවලට අනුව, විදේශ රටවල් 143 ක සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයෝ 38,983 කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් ආපසු සිය රට බලා පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරති. සිසු සිසුවියන් 3,078 ක්, කෙටිකාලීන වීසා බලපත්‍රලාභීන් 4,040 ක්, සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන් 27,854 ක්, ඔවුන්ගෙන් යැපෙන්නන් 3,527 ක් සහ ද්විත්ව පුරවැසියන් 484 ක් සහ වෙනත් අය ද මීට ඇතුළත් වෙයි. මේ අතර, පසුගිය අ‌ප්‍රේල් 21 වැනි දින සිට මේ දක්වා එතෙර රටවල් 15 ක සිටි ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් 3,600 දෙනෙකු මෙරටට ගෙන්වාගෙන ඇති අතර, එම කණ්ඩායම බොහෝ දුරට විදේශවල අධ්‍යාපනය හැදෑරූ සිසු සිසුවියන්, පුහුණුව සඳහා යවන ලද රජයේ නිලධාරීන් හා ඔවුන්ගෙන් යැපෙන්නන්ගෙන් සමන්විත වේ.

එතෙර සිටින අවදානමට ලක්විය හැකි ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් පිළිබඳ දත්ත එක්රැස් කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය හඳුනාගත් විදේශ සබඳතා අමාත්‍යාංශය, මෙරටට පැමිණෙන ගුවන් ගමන් සඳහා ගුවන් තොටුපොළ වසා දැමීමෙන් සතියක් ඇතුළත දී, තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්‍ෂණ නියෝජිතායතනයේ (ICTA) ද සහාය ඇතිව 2020 මාර්තු 26 වන දින ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අමතන්න’ වෙබ් ද්වාරය නිර්මාණය කළේය. මෙම ද්වාරය විවෘත කිරීමට සමගාමීව, ආපසු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන අය පිළිබඳ දත්ත එක්රැස් කරන ලෙස විදේශවල පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩලවලට ද උපදෙස් දෙන ලදී. අවදානමට ලක්විය හැකි කණ්ඩායම් හඳුනා ගැනීම, ප්‍රමුඛතාවය ලබා දීම සහ නැවත සියරට පැමිණවීම සඳහා පදනම ලෙස මෙම මූලාශ්‍ර දෙක භාවිත කෙරෙයි.

මෙම ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අමතන්න’ වෙබ් ද්වාරය, එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේ ප්‍රයෝජනය සඳහා අතථ්‍ය උපකාරක කවුළුවක් ලෙස ද කටයුතු කරයි. ආර්ථික කටයුතු (බහුපාර්ශ්වීය) සහ විදේශීය ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් පිළිබඳ වැඩබලන අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් අන්සුල් ජාන් ප්‍රකාශ කරන පරිදි, මෙම ද්වාරය දියත් කළ අවස්ථාවේ සිට මේ දක්වා එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් 78,033 දෙනෙකු එහි ලියාපදිංචි වී ඇති අතර, ඒ සඳහාම කැපවූ කණ්ඩායමක් විසින්, සතියේ දින 7 හි පැය 24 තුළ ම ඵලදායී ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින්, ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් නැවත සියරට පැමිණවීම සහ කොන්සියුලර් ගැටලු පිළිබඳව පමණක් නොව, වෙනත් මෙහෙයුම් සහ ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද ලොව වටා විදේශ රටවල සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් විසින් නඟන ලද ප්‍රශ්න 7,788 කට පිළිතුරු ලබා දී ඇත.

විශේෂයෙන් අදාළ රටවල ශ්‍රී ලාංකික නියෝජනයක් නොමැති අවස්ථාවල දී, ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් ආසන්නතම ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික දූතමණ්ඩලය වෙත යොමු කිරීමට පමණක් නොව, ආහාර අවශ්‍යතාවයෙන් පෙළෙන සහ  හදිසි වෛද්‍ය අවස්ථාවන්ට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවන ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් සමඟ, වියළි සලාක හා ඖෂධ ලබා දීම සහ සමහර අවස්ථාවල නවාතැන් සඳහා පහසුකම් ද සැලසීම පිණිස සම්බන්ධ වීම සඳහා උපකාරී වීමට ද මෙම ද්වාරය සමත් වී තිබේ. සංක්‍රමණිකයන් විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වෙත මුදල් එවීම  හා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිට කෙටිකාලීන සංචාරකයින් සහ සිසු සිසුවියන් වෙත මුදල් යැවීම සම්බන්ධ ගැටලු විධිමත් කිරීමට ද එය උපකාරී වී තිබේ. අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනවල ගැටලුවලට මුහුණ දුන් සිසුන්ට සහ රැකියා ගිවිසුම් කල් ඉකුත් වූ අයට නව රැකියා ගිවිසුම් ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා සමහර දූත මණ්ඩල උපකාර කර ඇති අතර, එම නිසා විරැකියාව හේතුවෙන් නැවත මෙරටට පැමිණීමට බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් පසුවන අය ඒ පිළිබදව නැවත සළකා බලන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිනු ලැබේ.

සෙනසුරාදා (මැයි 16) දින ශ්‍රී ලංකා රූපවාහිනී සංස්ථාව සමඟ පැවති රූපවාහිනී සාකච්ඡාවකට සහභාගී වෙමින් විදේශ ලේකම් රවිනාථ ආර්යසිංහ මහතා පැවසුවේ, ඉදිරි සැලසුම් සකස් කිරීමේ දී සහ මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය, දූත මණ්ඩල සහ එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් අතර සබඳතා හා ඍජු සන්නිවේදනයන් සියුම් ලෙස සම්බන්ධීකරණය කිරීමේදී විශ්වාසදායක විශ්ලේෂණාත්මක ආයතනික මෙවලමක් බවට මෙම ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අමතන්න’ ද්වාරය පත්ව ඇති බවයි. අනාගතයේ දී එහි උපයෝගීතාව සහ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වයන් පුළුල් කිරීමට මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය අපේක්ෂා කරන බව ද ඔහු පැවසීය.

වර්තමාන ගෝලීය වසංගත තත්ත්වය නිසා ඇති වී තිබෙන අභියෝග රාශිය හමුවේ විදේශ දූත මණ්ඩල ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වා ඇති ආකාරය පිළිබඳව නඟන ලද ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු දෙමින්, මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශයට සහ ලොව පුරා පිහිටි දූත මණ්ඩල කාර්ය මණ්ඩලවලට පෙර නොවූ විරූ ආකාරයකින් එකවර විසඳිය යුතු වූ විවිධ කර්තව්‍යයන්හි සංකීර්ණතාව පිළිබඳව විදේශ ලේකම්වරයා මහජනයාට පැහැදිලි කළේය. එහිදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිටින රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රිකයින්ගේ සහ සංචාරකයින්ගේ අවශ්‍යතා සපුරාලීම, විදේශ දූත මණ්ඩල සුරක්ෂිත කිරීම, ආපසු පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන අයගේ බලවත් ඉල්ලීම් පිළිබඳව කටයුතු කිරීම, සත්කාරක රජයන් සහ ප්‍රජාවන් සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් යුතුව තම සත්කාරක රටවල රැඳී සිටීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන අය සඳහා එම භූමිවල කොන්දේසි ලිහිල් කරවා දීම, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වෛද්‍ය සහ ආහාර යන අංශ දෙකෙහිම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සැපයුම් සුරක්ෂිත කිරීම, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන අදාළ ගමනාන්ත කරා ළඟා වීම සදහා කටයුතු සම්පාදනය, පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂණ උපකරණ (PPEs) වැනි නව නිෂ්පාදන සඳහා වෙළඳපල සොයා ගැනීම සහතික කිරීම, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සැලකිලිමත් වන කරුණු සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීම සඳහා ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානය සහ අනෙකුත් බහුපාර්ශ්වික, කලාපීය සහ ද්විපාර්ශ්වික හවුල්කරුවන් සමඟ එක්ව කටයුතු කිරීම ආදී කර්තව්‍යයන් සිදු කරනු ලබන අතර කොවිඩ්-19 අරමුදල සඳහා ද රුපියල් මිලියන 27 ක මුදලක් එකතු කොට පරිත්‍යාග කරන ලද බවද ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මෙම සන්දර්භය තුළ, අක්තගන්වන ලද තානාපතිවරුන්/මහ කොමසාරිස්වරුන් නොමැතිව සහ පුරප්පාඩු වූ රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික තනතුරු සහිතව ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩල 67 න් 1/3 කම ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර තානාපතිවරු නොමැති කාර්යාලයන්හි ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවයේ (SLFS) නිලධාරීන් වැඩබැලීමේ තත්ත්වයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීම සැලකිල්ලට ගත යුතු කරුණක් බව විදේශ ලේකම් ආර්යසිංහ මහතා පැවසීය. පීඩාවට පත් වූ ප්‍රජාවන් සමඟ කටයුතු කරන අතරතුර දී, බරපතල අවස්ථාවන්ට මුහුණ දීමට සහ අවදානම් තත්වයන් හඳුනා ගැනීම පිණිස සත්කාරක රටෙහි පවතින තත්වයන් විශ්ලේෂණය කිරීමේ දී අප්‍රමාදීව හා සිතාමතා තීරණ ගැනීම ආදී වූ අත්දැකීම් ලබා ගැනීමට දූත මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානී තනතුරුවල වැඩබලන ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවයේ තරුණ නිලධාරීන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු සඳහා මෙය කදිම අවස්ථාවක් බවට පත්ව ඇති අතර එවැනි අත්දැකීම් ඔවුන්ගේ අනාගත වෘත්තිය සාරවත් කරනු ඇති අතර, ඔවුන්ගේ වෘත්තිමය දියුණුව සඳහා ඔවුන්ට හොඳ ස්ථාවරයක් ලබා දෙනු ඇතැයි ද විදේශ ලේකම්වරයා විශ්වාසය පළ කළේය.

வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சின் ‘இலங்கையுடன் தொடர்பு கொள்ளுதல்’ இணைய முகப்பினூடாக சேகரிக்கப்பட்ட தகவல்களின் அடிப்படையில், தற்போது 143 நாடுகளிலுள்ள 38,983 க்கும் மேற்பட்ட வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்கள் நாடு திரும்புவதற்கு எதிர்பார்த்துள்ளனர். இவர்களுள் 3,078 மாணவர்கள், 4,040 குறுகிய கால வீசாவையுடையவர்கள், 27,854 புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்கள், 3527 தங்கிவாழ்வோர் மற்றும் 484 இரட்டைப் பிரஜாவுரிமையுடையவர்கள் மற்றும் ஏனைய நபர்கள் உள்ளடங்குவர். அதேவேளை, ஏப்ரல் 21 தொடக்கம் தற்போது வரை, பெரும்பாலும் வெளிநாட்டு மாணவர்கள் மற்றும் பயிற்சிகளைப் பெற்றுக்கொண்ட அரச அதிகாரிகள் மற்றும் அவர்களைச் சார்ந்தவர்கள் என 15 நாடுகளிலிருந்து 3600 வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்கள் நாட்டிற்கு மீள அழைத்து வரப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடிய வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்கள் பற்றிய தரவுகளைச் சேகரிக்க வேண்டியதன் அவசியத்தை உணர்ந்து, உள்வரும் வணிக விமானங்களுக்காக விமான நிலையம் மூடப்பட்ட ஒரு வார காலப்பகுதிக்குள், தகவல் மற்றும் தொடர்பாடல் தொழில்நுட்ப முகவரமைப்பின் உதவியுடன் 2020 மார்ச் 26 ஆந் திகதி ‘இலங்கையுடன் தொடர்பு கொள்ளுதல்’ இணைய முகப்பை வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு உருவாக்கியது. இந்த இணைய முகப்புக்கு இணையாக, நாட்டிற்கு மீளத் திரும்பி வர விரும்புவோர் பற்றிய தரவுகளை சேகரிக்குமாறு இலங்கைத் தூதரகங்களுக்கு அறிவுறுத்தப்பட்டது. பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடிய குழுக்களை அடையாளம் காண்பதற்கும், முன்னுரிமை அளிப்பதற்கும், திருப்பி அனுப்புவதற்குமான அடிப்படையாக இந்த இரண்டு மூலங்களும் செயற்படுகின்றன.

வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்களின் நலனுக்காக உண்மையான உதவி மையமாக இலங்கையுடன் தொடர்பு கொள்ளுதல் இணைய முகப்பு செயற்படுகின்றது. இந்த இணைய முகப்பு அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டதிலிருந்து, 78,033 இலங்கையர்கள் இதில் பதிவு செய்துள்ளதுடன், முக்கியமாக நாட்டிற்கு மீள அழைத்து வரல் மற்றும் கொன்சுலர் பிரச்சினைகள் தொடர்பான உதவி சம்பந்தமாகவும், ஏனைய செயற்பாட்டு மற்றும் கொள்கை விடயங்கள் சம்பந்தமாகவும் உலகம் முழுவதிலுமுள்ள வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்கள் எழுப்பிய 7,788 கேள்விகளுக்கு, 24/7 என்ற அடிப்படையில் திறம்பட செயற்படும் பிரத்தியேகமான குழுவொன்று பதிலளித்துள்ளது என பொருளாதார விவகாரங்கள் (பலதரப்பு) மற்றும் வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்கள் பிரிவின் பதில் பணிப்பாளர் நாயகம் அன்சுல் ஜான் தெரிவித்தார்.

சம்பந்தப்பட்ட நாடுகளில் இலங்கையின் பிரதிநிதித்துவம் எதுவும் இல்லாத நிலையில், அருகிலுள்ள இலங்கையின் இராஜதந்திரத் தூதரகங்களுக்கு இலங்கையர்களை வழிநடத்துவதற்கு இந்த இணைய முகப்பு உதவியது மட்டுமன்றி, உலர் உணவுகள், மருந்துப் பொருட்களை வழங்குதல் மற்றும் சில சந்தர்ப்பங்களில் தங்குமிட ஏற்பாடுகளைச் செய்து கொடுத்தல் என்ற வகையில், உணவுகள் தேவைப்படும் மற்றும் மருத்துவ அவசர நிலைகளை எதிர்கொள்ளும் மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடிய இலங்கையர்களின் வகைகளுடன் இணைப்பதற்கும் உதவியது. புலம்பெயர்ந்தவர்கள் இலங்கைக்கும், குறுகிய காலப் பிரயாணிகள் மற்றும் மாணவர்களுக்கு இலங்கையிலிருந்தும் நிதிப் பரிமாற்றம் மேற்கொள்வது தொடர்பான பிரச்சினைகளை ஒழுங்குபடுத்துவதற்கும் இது வழியமைத்துள்ளது. கல்வி நிறுவனங்களில் பிரச்சினைகளை எதிர்கொண்ட மாணவர்களுக்கும், மற்றும் தொழில் ஒப்பந்தங்கள் காலாவதியானவர்கள் வேலையின்மை காரணமாக திரும்பி வருவதற்கு நிர்ப்பந்திக்கப்படாதிருப்பதன் நிமித்தம், புதிய வேலைவாய்ப்பு ஒப்பந்தங்களை அவர்கள் பெற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கும் உதவியுள்ளன.

முன்னோக்கித் திட்டமிடுவதிலும், அமைச்சு, தூதரகங்கள் மற்றும் வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்களுக்கு இடையில் உறவுகள் மற்றும் நேரடித் தகவல் தொடர்புகளை சிறப்பாக மேற்கொள்வதிலும் நம்பகமான பகுப்பாய்வு நிறுவனக் கருவியாக ‘இலங்கையுடன் தொடர்பு கொள்ளுதல்’ இணைய முகப்பு மாறியுள்ளதாக, சனிக்கிழமை (மே 16) இலங்கை ரூபவாஹினிக் கூட்டுத்தாபனத்தில் இடம்பெற்ற தொலைக்காட்சிக் கலந்துரையாடலொன்றில் கலந்து கொண்ட வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் ரவிநாத ஆரியசிங்க தெரிவித்தார். எதிர்காலத்தில் அதன் பயன்பாடு மற்றும் செயற்பாடுகளை விரிவுபடுத்துவதற்கு அமைச்சு எதிர்பார்த்துள்ளதாக அவர் மேலும் தெரிவித்தார்.

தற்போதைய தொற்றுநோயால் முன்வைக்கப்பட்ட பல சவால்களை எதிர்கொண்டு வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள தூதரகங்கள் எவ்வாறு பதிலளித்தன என்பது குறித்து வினவப்பட்ட கேள்விக்கு பதிலளிக்கையில், முன்னோடியில்லாத வகையில் அமைச்சு மற்றும் தூதரக ஊழியர்கள் ஒரே நேரத்தில் உலகம் முழுவதும் தெரிவிக்க வேண்டிய பல பணிகளின் சிக்கல் நிலை குறித்து வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் மக்களுக்கு விளக்கினார். இலங்கையிலுள்ள இராஜதந்திரிகள் மற்றும் சுற்றுலாப் பயணிகள் தொடர்பான விடயங்களை எதிர்கொள்ளுதல், வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள தூதரகங்களைப் பாதுகாத்தல், நாட்டிற்குத் திரும்பி வர விரும்புவோரின் கோரிக்கைகளை நிவர்த்தி செய்தல், பெற்றுக்கொண்ட அரசாங்கங்கள் மற்றும் சமூகங்களுடன் இணைந்து, அந்த நாடுகளில் தங்க விரும்புவோருக்கான நிலைமைகளை தளர்த்துதல், மருத்துவம் மற்றும் உணவு ஆகிய இரண்டிற்குமான அத்தியாவசியப் பொருட்களைப் பாதுகாத்தல், இலங்கை ஏற்றுமதியாளர்கள் தமது இலக்குத் தளங்களை அடைவதை உறுதிசெய்தல் மற்றும் தனிப்பட்ட பாதுகாப்பு உபகரணங்கள் போன்ற புதிய தயாரிப்புக்களுக்கான சந்தைகளை கண்டறிதல், கோவிட்-19 நிதியத்திற்கான நிதிப் பெறுமதி ரூபா. 27 மில்லியனை அடையும் வகையில் நன்கொடைகளை சேகரித்தல் மற்றும் இலங்கையின் நலன்களை மேம்படுத்துவதற்காக உலக சுகாதார ஸ்தாபனம் மற்றும் ஏனைய பல்தரப்பு, பிராந்திய மற்றும் இருதரப்பு பங்காளர்களுடன் ஈடுபடுதல் ஆகியன இவற்றுள் உள்ளடங்கும்.

இலங்கையின் 67 தூதரகங்களில் 1/3 தூதரகங்களிலுள்ள அங்கீகாரம் பெற்ற தூதுவர் / உயர் ஸ்தானிகர் மற்றும் வெற்றிடமாகவுள்ள பல இராஜதந்திரப் பதவிகளில், தற்போது இலங்கை வெளிநாட்டு சேவையைச் சேர்ந்த பதில் அதிகாரிகள் பணியாற்றுகின்றனர் என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது என வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் ஆரியசிங்க குறிப்பிட்டார். உயர் அழுத்தம் மிகுந்த சூழ்நிலைகளை எதிர்கொள்வதற்கும், பாதிப்புக்குள்ளான சமூகங்களை கையாள்வதிலும், பாதிப்புக்களை அடையாளம் காண்பதற்காக, பெற்றுக்கொண்ட நாட்டின் சூழ்நிலைகளை பகுப்பாய்வு செய்வதில் விரைவான மற்றும் கணக்கிடப்பட்ட தீர்மானங்களை மேற்கொள்வதற்கும், தூதரகத் தலைவர்கள் பதவிகளில் செயற்பட்டு வரும் பல இளம் இலங்கை வெளிநாட்டு சேவையைச் சேர்ந்த அதிகாரிகளுக்கு இந்த அனுபவம் குறிப்பிடத்தக்க வெளிப்பாட்டைக் கொடுத்துள்ளதாக அவர் நம்புகின்றார். இத்தகைய அனுபவங்கள் அவர்களது எதிர்கால வாழ்க்கையை வளமாக்கும் அதே வேளை, அவர்களது தொழில் முன்னேற்றத்தில் அவர்களுக்கு நல்லதொரு நிலைமையை ஏற்படுத்தும் என அவர் கருதுகின்றார்.

வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு

கொழும்பு

17 மே 2020

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Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha participated in a television interview, recorded today (07 May 2020), at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) where he expanded on the Cabinet Paper presented by Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Foreign Relations, Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations  regards “addressing the vulnerable sectors of the migrant labour category of Overseas Sri Lankans amidst the COVID-19 pandemic by the Government of Sri Lanka”.

The full transcript of the interview is below.

Q–1

So far, the Government has been going ahead with its programme of repatriation of students of Sri Lanka who are stranded in the countries and the students who wanted to return to Sri Lanka, now the focus of the Government has been diverted towards migrant workers, especially in the Middle East and any other country. A new Cabinet Paper was submitted and approved yesterday. As Foreign Secretary, what can you say about this whole process.

A–1

I don’t see this as a diversion. The Foreign Ministry’s view always had been that once return was allowed and repatriation started, it should be done on the basis of maximum vulnerability. It is on that basis that we recommended that South Asian students be prioritized and that first concluded only about a week ago.  Now several other groups of students have also been brought back and will continue to be brought back. The significance of the Cabinet Paper presented yesterday by Foreign Relations and Foreign Employment Minister Dinesh Gunawardena was to re-emphasize something we said in our very original Cabinet Paper over a month ago that the foreign migrant workers are a category which are in dire straits in certain countries and that therefore in parallel with any student movements that we must also pay special attention to them and facilitate their return. In this context, presently I see the Maldives where a lot of Sri Lankans want to come back, particularly about a 1200 – 1500 living in Male Island as the most vulnerable. Then in places like Kuwait, in addition to that vulnerability for COVID which is common to the rest of the Middle East, there is also an amnesty declared by the Kuwaiti government and we are conscious that there is anxiety on the part of foreign employees that if they lose this amnesty they will have greater difficulty coming out and returning as legals someday. The Kuwaiti government at this point has offered to fly them back to Sri Lanka. In fact, this evening Foreign Minister, having received Cabinet sanction yesterday, is going to engage with its Kuwaiti counterpart and will be discussing a process by which Sri Lanka can respect that amnesty offer. We will be starting the process, but the Kuwait government is very conscious that we can’t bring all the people who are wanting to come at this point. Therefore, we will have to, between the two governments, have some negotiations on how we phase that out. Then there is also the problem of Sri Lankan expatriates working in places like Bangladesh, again where COVID is spreading at a very rapid pace and there are more than a thousand people there, out of which about 300 plus are women and children. We will similarly focus on repatriating vulnerable migrant worker categories from the Middle East and elsewhere. The Cabinet Paper’s second aspect was to ensure that local quarantine facilities are reserved for those coming who can’t afford to go to quarantine in Hotels. Third, the Cabinet Paper referred to the continued Diplomatic representation to sustain the large number of migrant workers in their current places of domicile and also to ensure that there is continued supply to the most needy, which is something Missions with the support of the SLBFE has been doing over the past few weeks. I think that is very important at this juncture, because there are issues that come up from time to time, which can be resolved with intervention by the Missions – an extension of visa, a landlord who is demanding rent, a business partner who is demanding back some payment due, somebody who is seeking shelter and fixing a family for them to stay with or someone who hasn’t a meal and wants some dry rations and sometimes medicines. Our Missions across the world, not only in the Middle East are providing valuable assistance to all Sri Lankans abroad. Naturally our capacity is limited financially, but together with Sri Lankan organizations as well as other philanthropic organizations in those countries and churches and other religious bodies we are trying to meet that requirement.

Q-2

Now what is the message for migrants? As you said there are different needs of them and different situations. So according to their situation what should they think before they request to visit Sri Lanka?

A-2

Well that is a question each migrant has to answer for themselves and a migrant meaning a student, someone working abroad. There is also a category of about 3000 people out there who are there on short term visits and stuck, they don’t have that choice, they have to come back home, and we are trying to draw them also in to the present movements, to the extent possible, probably with the hotels being used for quarantine, which are also now getting filled up. But to those who have a choice, my advice has all along been to make an objective assessment of one’s circumstances. Somebody who is, say in a country where universities are functioning and the term not over, might lose out education wise if that person tries to move around. The same way somebody who is in a job whether in the Middle East or any country, blue collar or white collar, at this point when you come back, you might not be able to return to that job because those countries are also cutting back and everybody is scaling down, and so is the case in Sri Lanka. But if you don’t have a job already, then I can see the logic, but I think it is important that people out there understand that when you come back to Sri Lanka too finding jobs won’t be easy.

So our plea through our Mission network in 67 cities to people out there is that they measure these factors very carefully. Those who insist on coming back, we will prioritize in an objective way. Not by looking at faces or connections, but by looking at the real necessity of their repatriation at this point and our capacity to bring them and quarantine them, so that they are not a danger to those in the country and they don’t unnecessarily expose themselves to danger on the way in to the country.

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මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන් නැවත සියරට පැමිණවීමේ දී, අවදානමට ලක්විය හැකි කොටස්වලට ප්‍රමුඛතාවය දීමට අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය ගත් තීරණය පිළිබඳව විදේශ ලේකම් ආර්යසිංහ මහතා විස්තර කරයි

විදේශ ලේකම් රවිනාථ ආර්යසිංහ මහතා ජාතික රූපවාහිනී සේවය සමඟ පැවති සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාව – 2020 මැයි 7 වැනි දින

ප්‍රශ්නය – 1

විදේශ රටවල අතරමංව සිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිසු සිසුවියන් සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට නැවත පැමිණීමට කැමති සිසු සිසුවියන් නැවත මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළ සමඟ රජය මේ දක්වා ඉදිරියට යමින් සිටියි. දැන් රජයේ අවධානය විශේෂයෙන්ම මැද පෙරදිග සහ වෙනත් ඕනෑම රටක සිටින සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන් වෙත යොමුකර තිබේ. නව අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය පත්‍රිකාවක් ඊයේ දින ඉදිරිපත් කර අනුමත කරන ලදී. විදේශ ලේකම්වරයා වශයෙන් ඔබට මෙම සමස්ත ක්‍රියාවලිය ගැන කුමක් කිව හැකිද?

පිළිතුර – 1

මෙය අවධානය වෙනතකට හැරවීමක් ලෙස මම නොදකිමි. සැමවිටම විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ මතය වූයේ නැවත පැමිණීමට අවසර දීමෙන් පසුව සියරට පැමිණවීම ආරම්භ කළ විට, එය කළ යුත්තේ උපරිම අවදානම් තත්ත්වය අනුවය යන්නයි. දකුණු ආසියානු සිසු සිසුවියන්ට ප්‍රමුඛතාවය ලබා දෙන ලෙස අප නිර්දේශ කළේ ද එම පදනම මත වන අතර, එම පළමුවැන්න අවසන් වූයේ මීට සතියකට පමණ පෙරදීය. මේ වන විට තවත් ශිෂ්‍ය කණ්ඩායම් කිහිපයක් ද ආපසු රැගෙන පැමිණ ඇති අතර, ඔවුන් අඛණ්ඩව නැවත රැගෙන එනු ඇත. විදේශ සබඳතා සහ විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මැතිතුමා විසින් ඊයේ දින ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය පත්‍රිකාවේ විශේෂත්වය වූයේ, මීට මාසයකට පෙර ඉදිරිපත් කළ අපගේ මුල් අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය පත්‍රිකාවේ අප පැවසූ කරුණක් යළි අවධාරණය කිරීමයි. සමහර විදේශීය රටවල සිටින සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන් යනු දැඩි අර්බුදයකට ලක්ව ඇති කාණ්ඩයක් වන බැවින්, ඕනෑම ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් රැගෙන ඒමකට සමගාමීව අප  ඔවුන් වෙත ද විශේෂ අවධානය යොමු කළ යුතු වන අතර, ඔවුන් නැවත ගෙන්වා ගැනීම සඳහා ද පහසුකම් සැලසිය  යුතුය. මෙම සන්දර්භය තුළ, විශේෂයෙන්ම, මාලේ දූපතෙහි සිටින 1,200 ත් 1,500 ත් අතර සංඛ්‍යාවක් ඇතුළුව, ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින් විශාල පිරිසක් සිටින මාලදිවයින, වඩාත්ම අවදානම් සහගත ස්ථානය ලෙස වර්තමානයේ දී මම දකිමි. තවද, මැදපෙරදිග සෙසු රටවලට පොදුවේ බලපාන කොවිඩ් වසංගත තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ අවදානමට අමතරව, කුවේට් වැනි ස්ථානවල කුවේට් රජය විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලද පොදු සමාවක් ද පවතින අතර, මෙම පොදු සමාව අහිමි වුව හොත් ඔවුනට එරටින් පිටතට පැමිණීමටත්, යම් දිනෙක නීත්‍යානුකූලව නැවත එහි යාමටත් අපහසු වනු ඇති බවට විදේශගත ශ්‍රමිකයින් තුළ කනස්සල්ලක් ඇති බව අපි දනිමු. මේ අවස්ථාවේ දී කුවේට් රජය, ඔවුන් ගුවන් මඟින් නැවත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එවීමට ද ඉදිරිපත් වී තිබේ. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම, ඊයේ දිනයේ දී විදේශ ඇමතිවරයාට මේ සඳහා අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය අනුමැතිය ලැබී ඇති අතර, අද සවස කුවේට්හි විදේශ අමාත්‍යවරයා සමඟ මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් නියැලීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන අතර, එසේ ප්‍රදානය කළ පොදු සමාව පිළිගැනීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විසින් සිදු කළ හැකි ක්‍රියාවලියක් පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කරනු ඇත. අපි මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය ආරම්භ කරන නමුත්, මෙහි පැමිණීමට අපේක්ෂා කරන සියලු පුද්ගලයින් මේ මොහොතේ දී රැගෙන ඒමට අපට නොහැකි වීම පිළිබඳව ද කුවේට් රජය ඉතා සවිඥානිකව සිටී. එබැවින්, අප එය පියවර වශයෙන් සිදුකරන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න පිළිබඳව රජයන් දෙක අතර සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්විය යුතුය. තවද, මෙම කොවිඩ් ගෝලීය වසංගතය ඉතා වේගයෙන් ව්‍යාප්ත වන බංග්ලාදේශය වැනි ස්ථානවල සේවය කරන දහසකට වැඩි ශ්‍රී ලාංකික විදේශිකයින්ගේ පිරිසක් පිළිබඳ ගැටලුව ද පවතින අතර, ඉන් 300 දෙනෙක් පමණ කාන්තාවන් හා ළමුන් වේ. මැදපෙරදිග හා වෙනත් රටවලින් අවදානමට ලක්විය හැකි සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමික කාණ්ඩයන් නැවත මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගැනීම කෙරෙහි ද, අපි ඒ හා සමානව අවධානය යොමු කරන්නෙමු. මෙම අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය පත්‍රිකාවේ අඩංගු දෙවැනි අංගය වූයේ, හෝටල්වල නිරෝධායනයකට යාම සඳහා මුදල් වැය කළ නොහැකි අය සඳහා දේශීය නිරෝධායන පහසුකම් වෙන් කර ඇති බවට සහතික කිරීමයි. තෙවනුව, සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන් විශාල සංඛ්‍යාවක් ඔවුන්ගේ වර්තමාන වාසස්ථානවල රඳවා තබා ගැනීම සඳහාත්, උපරිම වශයෙන් අවශ්‍යතා ඇති අයට අඛණ්ඩව සැපයුමක් ලැබෙන බවට සහතික කිරීම සඳහාත්, පසුගිය සති කිහිපය තුළ දී විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යංශයේ ද සහය ඇතිව, විදේශ දූතමණ්ඩල විසින් සිදුකරන ලද අඛණ්ඩ රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික නියෝජනය පිළිබඳව මෙම අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයීය පත්‍රිකාවෙහි සඳහන් කර ඇත. මෙම අවස්ථාවේ දී එය ඉතා වැදගත් යැයි මම සිතමි. මන්දයත්, වීසා බලපත්‍රය දීර්ඝ කිරීම, ඉඩම් හිමියෙකු විසින් කුලිය ඉල්ලා සිටීම, ව්‍යාපාරික හවුල්කරුවෙකුට ලැබිය යුතු කිසියම් මුදලක් ආපසු ගෙවන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීම, නවාතැන් සොයන අයෙකුට රැඳී සිටීම සඳහා වෙනත් පවුලකට සම්බන්ධ කිරීම හෝ ආහාර නොමැති අයෙකුට වියළි සලාක සහ සමහර විට අවශ්‍ය අයෙකුට ඖෂධ ලබා දීම වැනි වරින් වර පැන නගින ගැටලු, දූත මණ්ඩලවල මැදිහත්වීමෙන් විසඳා ගත හැකි බැවිනි. මැදපෙරදිග පමණක් නොව ලොව පුරා පිහිටි අපගේ දූත මණ්ඩල, විදේශයන්හි සිටින සියලුම ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින්ට වටිනා සහයක් ලබා දෙයි. ස්වභායෙන්ම, අපගේ මූල්‍යමය ශක්තිය සීමිත වන නමුත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංවිධාන මෙන්ම එම රටවල පිහිටි පරාර්ථකාමී සංවිධාන, දේවස්ථාන සහ වෙනත් ආගමික ආයතන සමඟ එක්ව අපි එම අවශ්‍යතාවය සපුරාලීමට උත්සාහ දරන්නෙමු.

ප්‍රශ්නය – 2

දැන් සංක්‍රමණිකයින් සඳහා ඔබ ලබා දෙන පණිවුඩය කුමක්ද? ඔබ පැවසූ පරිදි ඔවුන්ගේ අවශ්‍යතා විවිධ වන අතර, විවිධ තත්වයන් පවතී. එබැවින් ඔවුන්ගේ තත්වය අනුව, ඔවුන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට යාමට ඉල්ලීමට පෙර සිතා බැලිය යුත්තේ කුමන කරුණු පිළිබඳව ද?

පිළිතුර – 2

ඇත්තෙන්ම, එය සෑම සංක්‍රමණිකයෙකුම තමන් විසින්ම පිළිතුරු දිය යුතු ප්‍රශ්නයකි. සංක්‍රමණිකයෙකු යනු, ශිෂ්‍යයෙකු, ශිෂ්‍යාවක හෝ විදේශයක රැකියාව කරන අයෙකු යන්නයි. කෙටිකාලීන සංචාරවල යෙදී අතරමඟ සිරවී සිටින පුද්ගලයින් 3,000 දෙනෙක් පමණ ද විදේශවල සිටින අතර, ඔවුන්ට වෙනත් විකල්පයක් නොමැත. ඔවුන්ට නැවත නිවසට පැමිණිය යුතු වේ. අපි ඔවුන්ව ද හැකි තාක් දුරට වර්තමානයේ රැගෙන එන කණ්ඩායම්වලට ඇතුළත් කර ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කරන්නෙමු. ඔවුන් නිරෝධායනය සඳහා භාවිතා කරන හෝටල්වලට යාමට කැමති වනු ඇතැයි සිතිය හැකි නමුත්, ඒවා ද දැන් පිරී යමින් පවතී. නමුත් යම් විකල්පයක් ඇති අය සඳහා මාගේ අවවාදය වන්නේ, තමන්ට අදාළවන තත්වයන් පිළිබඳව විෂය මූලික තක්සේරුවක් කිරීමයි. විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ක්‍රියාත්මක වන සහ එම කාලසීමාව අවසන් නොවූ රටක සිටින අයෙකුට නම්, එම පුද්ගලයා එහා මෙහා යාමට උත්සාහ කළහොත් තම අධ්‍යාපන අවස්ථාව අහිමි විය හැකිය. එමෙන්ම, මැදපෙරදිග හෝ ඕනෑම රටක, කම්කරු හෝ කාර්යාලයක් තුළ හෝ වේවා රැකියාවක නියුතු අයෙකු නම්, මේ ආකාරයෙන් ඔබ ආපසු පැමිණෙන විට, එම රටවල් ද පසුබෑමට ලක්ව ඇති බැවින් කාර්ය මණ්ඩල අඩු කරමින් සිටින අතර, ඔබට එම රැකියාවට ආපසු යාමට නොහැකි විය හැකිය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තත්වය ද එසේමය. නමුත් ඔබට දැනටමත් රැකියාවක් නොමැති නම්, එහි තාර්කිකත්වය මට දැකිය හැකි නමුත්, ඔබ නැවත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණෙන විට මෙහි ද රැකියා සොයා ගැනීම පහසු නොවන බව, විදේශයන්හි සිටින පුද්ගලයින් තේරුම් ගැනීම වැදගත් යැයි මම සිතමි.

එබැවින්, නගර 67 ක පිහිටි අපගේ දූත මණ්ඩල ජාලය හරහා එතෙර සිටින පුද්ගලයින් වෙත අප කරන ආයාචනය වන්නේ, මෙම සාධක පිළිබඳව ඔවුන් විසින් ඉතා ප්‍රවේශමෙන් සලකා බලන ලෙසයි. ආපසු පැමිණීමට තරයේ ඉල්ලා සිටින අය සඳහා අපි විෂය මූලික ආකාරයකින් ප්‍රමුඛත්වය ලබා දෙන්නෙමු. මෙය සිදු කරනුයේ, මුහුණු හෝ සම්බන්ධතා දෙස බැලීමෙන් නොව, මේ අවස්ථාවේ දී ඔවුන් නැවත සියරට පැමිණවීම සඳහා ඇති සැබෑ අවශ්‍යතාවය මෙන්ම, ඔවුන් රැගෙන ඒමට හා නිරෝධායනය කිරීමට අපට ඇති හැකියාව පිළිබඳව සලකාබැලීමෙන් අනතුරුව වන අතර, ඔවුන් නිසා මෙරට සිටින අයට අනතුරක් නොවිය යුතු මෙන්ම, ඔවුන් රට තුළට පැමිණෙන අතරතුර දී අනවශ්‍ය ලෙස අනතුරට නිරාවරණය ද නොවිය යුතුය.

විදේශ සබදතා අමාත්‍යාංශය

කොළඹ

07 . 05 . 2020

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ஊடக வெளியீடு

வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையின் புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்களில் மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடிய பிரிவினரை மீள அழைத்து வருவதில் முன்னுரிமையளிப்பதற்கான அமைச்சரவைத் தீர்மானம் குறித்து வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் ஆரியசிங்க விளக்கினார்

இலங்கை ரூபவாஹினி கூட்டுத்தாபனத்தில் இன்று (07 மே 2020) இடம்பெற்ற தொலைக்காட்சி நேர்காணலொன்றில் பங்கேற்ற வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் ரவிநாத ஆரியசிங்க, ‘கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோய் நிலைமைக்கு மத்தியில் வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையின் புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்களில் மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடிய பிரிவுகள் குறித்த இலங்கை அரசாங்கத்தின் கருத்துக்கள்’ தொடர்பாக வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள், திறன் அபிவிருத்தி, வேலைவாய்ப்பு மற்றும் தொழிலாளர் உறவுகள் அமைச்சர் கௌரவ. தினேஷ் குணவர்தன சமர்ப்பித்த அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரம் குறித்து விளக்கினார்.

இன்று பதிவு செய்யப்பட்ட நேர்காணலின் முழுமையான எழுத்தாக்கப்பிரதி கீழே வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

கேள்வி – 1

இதுவரை, வெளிநாடுகளில் சிக்கித் தவித்த இலங்கை மாணவர்களையும், இலங்கைக்குத் நாடு திரும்புவதற்கு தமது விருப்பத்தை வெளிப்படுத்திய மாணவர்களையும் மீள அழைத்து வரும் திட்டத்தை அரசாங்கம் முன்னெடுத்து வருவதுடன், இப்போது அரசாங்கத்தின் கவனம் குறிப்பாக மத்திய கிழக்கு மற்றும் ஏனைய எந்தவொரு நாட்டிலுமுள்ள புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்கள் மீது திருப்பி விடப்பட்டுள்ளது. புதிய அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரம் நேற்று சமர்ப்பிக்கப்பட்டு, அங்கீகரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. வெளிவிவகார செயலாளராக, முழுமையான இந்த செயன்முறை குறித்து நீங்கள் என்ன கூற விரும்புகின்றீர்கள்?

பதில் – 1

இதை ஒரு திசைதிருப்பும் விடயமாக நான் பார்க்கவில்லை. திரும்பி வர அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டு, நாட்டிற்கு மீள அழைத்து வருவது தொடங்கப்பட்டால், அது அதிகபட்சமான பாதிக்கப்படும் தன்மையின் அடிப்படையில் மேற்கொள்ளப்பட வேண்டும் என்பது எப்போதுமே வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சின் நோக்காகும். அந்த அடிப்படையில்தான், தெற்காசிய மாணவர்களுக்கு முன்னுரிமை அளிக்க வேண்டும் என நாங்கள் பரிந்துரைத்ததுடன், அது ஒரு வாரத்திற்கு முன்புதான் நிறைவடைந்தது. இப்போது மாணவர்களைக் கொண்ட பல குழுக்களும் மீண்டும் நாட்டிற்கு அழைத்து வரப்பட்டுள்ளதுடன், தொடர்ச்சியாக அவர்கள் மேலும் அழைத்து வரப்படுவர். ஒரு மாதத்திற்கு முன்னர் நாங்கள் சமர்ப்பித்த உண்மையான அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரத்தில் நாங்கள் முன்வைத்த விடயமான, வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்களும் நாட்டிற்கு மீள அழைத்து வரப்பட வேண்டிய வகைக்குட்பட்டவர்களாதலால், மாணவர் குழுக்களை நாட்டிற்கு மீள அழைத்து வருவதற்கு இணையாக தொழிலாளர்களை அழைத்து வருவதிலும் சிறப்பாக கவனத்தை செலுத்தி, அவர்கள் மீள நாடு திரும்புவதை எளிதாக்க வேண்டும் என்ற கருத்தை மீண்டும் வலியுறுத்துவதே வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் மற்றும் வெளிநாட்டு வேலைவாய்ப்பு அமைச்சர் தினேஷ் குணவர்தன நேற்று முன்வைத்த அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரத்தின் முக்கியத்துவமாகும். இந்த சூழலில், ஏராளமான இலங்கையர்கள் நாட்டிற்கு மீளத் திரும்பி வர விரும்பும் மாலைதீவை தற்போது நான் நோக்குவதுடன், குறிப்பாக மாலி தீவில் சுமார் 1200 – 1500 பேர் மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடியவர்களாக வாழ்கின்றனர். குவைத் போன்ற இடங்களில், மத்திய கிழக்கின் மற்ற பகுதிகளிலான பொதுவான கோவிட் பாதிப்புக்கும் மேலதிகமாக, குவைத் அரசாங்கத்தால் அறிவிக்கப்பட்ட பொது மன்னிப்பும் உள்ளதுடன், இந்தப் பொது மன்னிப்பை இழந்தால் அவர்கள் வெளியே வருவதற்கும், சட்டப்பூர்வமாக ஒருநாள் அங்கே மீளத் திரும்புவதற்கும் அதிக சிரமம் ஏற்படும் என்ற வெளிநாட்டு ஊழியர்கள் தரப்பினரின் கவலை குறித்து நாங்கள் அறிவோம். இந்த நேரத்தில் குவைத் அரசாங்கம் அவர்களை மீண்டும் இலங்கைக்கு அனுப்பி வைப்பதற்கு முன்வந்துள்ளது. உண்மையில், நேற்று அமைச்சரவை அனுமதியைப் பெற்றுள்ள நிலையில், குறித்த பொது மன்னிப்புச் சலுகையை இலங்கை பயன்படுத்திக் கொள்ளும் ஒரு செயன்முறை குறித்து கலந்துரையாடி, குவைத் பிரதிநிதிகளுடன் வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சர் ஈடுபடப் போகின்றார். நாங்கள் இந்த செயன்முறையைத் தொடங்குவோம், எனினும் இந்தக் கட்டத்தில் நாட்டிற்கு வர விரும்பும் அனைவரையும் அழைத்து வர முடியாது என்பது தொடர்பில் குவைத் அரசாங்கம் மிகுந்த விழிப்புடன் உள்ளது. எனவே, நாங்கள் அவர்களை எவ்வாறு வெளியேற்றுவது என்பது குறித்து சில பேச்சுவார்த்தைகளை இரு அரசாங்கங்களுக்கிடையில் நடாத்த வேண்டும். மீண்டும் கோவிட் தொற்று நோய் மிகவும் விரைவான வேகத்தில் பரவி வரும் பங்களாதேஷ் போன்ற இடங்களில் ஆயிரத்திற்கும் மேற்பட்ட பணிபுரியும் வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையரின் பிரச்சினையும் உள்ளதுடன், அவர்களில் சுமார் 300 க்கும் மேற்பட்டவர்கள் பெண்கள் மற்றும் குழந்தைகளாவர். மத்திய கிழக்கிலிருந்தும், ஏனைய இடங்களிலிருந்தும் பாதிக்கப்படக்கூடிய புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர் வகைகளை மீள அழைத்து வருவதில் இதேபோல் கவனம் செலுத்துவோம். ஹோட்டல்களில் தனிமைப்படுத்தலுக்குச் செல்ல முடியாதவர்களுக்கு உள்ளூர் தனிமைப்படுத்தல் வசதிகள் ஒதுக்கப்பட்டிருப்பதை உறுதிசெய்வதே அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரத்தின் இரண்டாவது அம்சமாகும். மூன்றாவதாக, பெருமளவிலான புலம்பெயர்ந்த தொழிலாளர்களை அவர்களின் தற்போதைய இருப்பிடங்களில் தக்கவைத்துக்கொள்வதற்கும், உதவிகள் தேவைப்படுபவர்களுக்கு தொடர்ச்சியாக அவை வழங்கப்படுவதை உறுதி செய்வதற்கும் தொடர்ச்சியான இராஜதந்திரப் பிரதிநிதித்துவத்தை அமைச்சரவைப் பத்திரம் குறிப்பிடுவதுடன், இதனை இலங்கை வெளிநாட்டு வேலைவாய்ப்புப் பணியகத்தின் ஆதரவுடன் தூதரகங்கள் கடந்த சில வாரங்களாக மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றது. இந்தக் கட்டத்தில் இது மிகவும் முக்கியமானது என நான் நினைக்கிறேன், ஏனெனில், வீசாவின் நீடிப்பு, வாடகை கோரும் நில உரிமையாளர், கட்டண நிலுவையைக் கோரும் வணிகப் பங்குதாரர், தங்குமிடம் தேடும் சிலர் மற்றும் தன்னுடன் தங்குவதற்கு ஒரு குடும்பத்தை நிர்ணயிக்கும் ஒருவர் அல்லது உணவு இல்லாத ஒருவர் மற்றும் உலர் உணவுப் பொருட்கள் மற்றும் சில நேரங்களில் மருந்துகளைக் கோருதல் போன்ற அவ்வப்போது வரும் பிரச்சினைகள் தூதரகங்களின் தலையீட்டால் தீர்க்கப்படலாம். மத்திய கிழக்கில் மட்டுமல்லாமல், உலகெங்கிலுமுள்ள எமது தூதரகங்கள் வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள அனைத்து இலங்கையர்களுக்கும் மதிப்புமிக்க உதவிகளை வழங்குகின்றன. இயற்கையாகவே எமது திறன் நிதி ரீதியாக மட்டுப்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது, எனினும் இலங்கையின் நிறுவனங்கள் மற்றும் அந்த நாடுகளிலுள்ள ஏனைய மனிதநேய அமைப்புக்கள், தேவாலயங்கள் மற்றும் ஏனைய மத அமைப்புக்களுடன் சேர்ந்து அந்தத் தேவையைப் பூர்த்தி செய்ய முயற்சிக்கின்றோம்.

கேள்வி – 2

இப்போது புலம்பெயர்ந்தோருக்கான செய்தி என்ன? நீங்கள் குறிப்பிட்டது போல, அவர்களது வெவ்வேறு தேவைகள் மற்றும் வெவ்வேறு சூழ்நிலைகள் உள்ளன. எனவே அவர்களது சூழ்நிலைக்கு ஏற்ப, அவர்கள் இலங்கைக்கு வருகை தருவதற்கான கோரிக்கையை மேற்கொள்வதற்கு முன்னர் அவர்கள் என்ன நினைக்க வேண்டும்?

பதில் – 2

புலம்பெயர்ந்தவர் ஒரு மாணவரா அல்லது வெளிநாட்டில் பணிபுரியும் ஒரு நபரா என்பது புலம்பெயர்ந்த ஒவ்வொருவரும் பதிலளிக்க வேண்டிய ஒரு கேள்வியாகும். இதைத் தவிர, குறுகிய கால விஜயங்களை மேற்கொண்டு, அங்கே சிக்கியுள்ள சுமார் 3000 பேர் கொண்ட ஒரு வகையினர் உள்ளனர், அவர்களுக்கு அந்தத் தெரிவுகள் எதுவும் இல்லை எனினும், அவர்களும் நாட்டிற்கு மீளத் திரும்பி வர வேண்டும், ஆதலால், அநேகமாக தனிமைப்படுத்தலுக்காக ஹோட்டல்களை பயன்படுத்தும் வகையில், சாத்தியமான அளவிற்கு தற்போதைய செயற்பாடுகளுக்குள் அவர்களையும் உள்வாங்க  முயற்சிக்கின்றோம். ஹோட்டல்களும் தற்போது நிரப்பப்பட்டு வருகின்றன. ஆனால், ஒருவரின் சூழ்நிலைகளைப் பற்றிய புறநிலை மதிப்பீட்டை மேற்கொள்வதே தெரிவுசெய்தவர்களுக்கான எனது ஆலோசனையாகும். நாடொன்றில், பல்கலைக்கழகங்கள் செயற்பட்டு வரும் காலப்பகுதியில் யாரோ ஒரு நபர் வெளியே சுற்றித் திரிய முயற்சித்தால், அவர் அவரது கல்வியை இழக்க நேரிடும். மத்திய கிழக்கில் அல்லது வேறு ஏதேனும் நாட்டில் நீலக் கழுத்துப்பட்டை அல்லது வெள்ளைக் கழுத்துப்பட்டை போன்ற வேலைகளில் இருக்கும் ஒருவர், நாட்டிற்குத் திரும்பி வரும்போது அந்த வேலைக்கு மீளத் திரும்ப முடியாமல் போகலாம். காரணம், அந்த நாடுகள் மீளப் பெறுவதற்கு பின்வாங்குவதுடன், நபர்களைக் குறைத்தும் வருகின்றன. இலங்கையிலும் அதே நிலைமைதான். ஆனால், உங்களுக்கு ஏற்கனவே வேலை இல்லையென்றால், நீங்கள் இலங்கைக்குத் திரும்பி வரும்போது, நீங்கள் வேலைகளைக் கண்டறிந்து கொள்வது எளிதான விடயமல்ல என்பதை அங்குள்ளவர்கள் புரிந்துகொள்வது முக்கியமானதாகும் என நான் நினைக்கின்றேன்.

எனவே, 67 நகரங்களிலுள்ள எமது தூதரகங்களின் வலையமைப்பின் மூலமாக இந்தக் காரணிகள் மிகவும் கவனமாக அளவிடப்படுகின்றது என்பது அங்குள்ள மக்களுக்கு நாங்கள் தெரிவிக்கும் செய்தியாகும். திரும்பி வர வலியுறுத்துபவர்களுக்கு நாங்கள் செயற்பாட்டு ரீதியில் முன்னுரிமையளிப்போம். இது முகங்கள் அல்லது இணைப்புக்களைப் பார்ப்பதன் மூலமாக அல்ல, மாறாக, நாட்டில் இருப்பவர்களுக்கு ஆபத்தை ஏற்படுத்தாது, தேவையில்லாமல் அவர்களையும் நாட்டில் ஆபத்திற்கு உட்படுத்திக் கொள்ளாது இருக்கும் நிமித்தம், இந்தக் கட்டத்தில் அவர்கள் திருப்பி அனுப்பப்படுவதன் உண்மையான அவசியத்தையும், அவர்களைக் கொண்டு வந்து தனிமைப்படுத்துவதற்கான எமது திறனையும் பார்ப்பதன் மூலமாக இது முன்னெடுக்கப்படுகின்றது.

வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு

கொழும்பு

07 மே 2020

With the arrival this evening (30 April) of UL 1188 carrying 125 Sri Lankan students from Kolkata, the operation to bring home 1065 Sri Lankan students based in the South Asian region, over 10 days, reached a successful conclusion.

Commencing on 21 April 2020, a total of nine (9) Sri Lankan Airlines special flights were used to destinations in India (Punjab, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata) Pakistan (Karachi and Lahore), Nepal (Kathmandu) and Bangladesh (Dhaka), to repatriate the  Sri Lankan students who had expressed their desire to return to Sri Lanka in the wake of the COVID 19 Pandemic. Those repatriated also included public and military officials who had completed study and training programmes in the respective countries and had to return to take up official duties back in Sri Lanka. Currently all returnees are undergoing mandatory quarantine at facilities afforded by the Sri Lanka Government.

Following the analysis of data on the most vulnerable Overseas Sri Lankans wishing to return and the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, on 14 April, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed that students in South Asia be the first category to be repatriated following the closure of the airport for arrivals to Sri Lanka from abroad. The Ministry in close collaboration with the Sri Lanka Missions in South Asia, the Presidential Secretariat, the Coviod 19 Task Force and the Sri Lankan Airlines, and with strong assistance of the respective foreign governments ensured the safe return of the students stationed across many cities in the region, amidst numerous challenges posed by the complexities arising out of the global Pandemic.

As the first step, Sri Lanka Missions and Consulates General in South Asia, namely Dhaka, Kathmandu, New Delhi, Islamabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Karachi, undertook the collation of data of the students in their respective jurisdictions, thus building the necessary network with students and academic institutions to map out the repatriation process. The South Asia and SAARC Division of the Ministry of Foreign Relations headed by Director General Aruni Ranaraja coordinated the process with the Missions. A detailed plan for each destination, outlined in consultation with the Presidential Secretariat and the Presidential Task Force was executed including categorization and group formation, with the objective of streamlining both the repatriation and quarantine processes. This clustering of groups continued throughout the process of repatriation and will do so until the conclusion of the quarantine process.

The first repatriation on 21 April 2020, from Pakistan coordinated by the Sri Lanka High Commission in Islamabad led by Acting High Commissioner U.L. Niyas together with the Sri Lanka Consulate General in Karachi headed by G.L. Gnanatheva brought down a total of 106 persons, who were at 12 academic and training institutes across Pakistan, some located over 1500 Kms from the airport.

The repatriation processes from India coordinated by Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi, headed by Acting High Commissioner Niluka Kadurugamuwa involved three (03) flights, from Amritsar, New Delhi and Kolkata, and brought in a total of 369 Students from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi (NCR), Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, and Chhattisgarh.

The Western Indian region repatriation was coordinated by the Sri Lanka Consulate General in Mumbai headed by Consul General Chamari Rodrigo and brought 164 persons from academic and training institutes in 15 cities in 05 States of Maharashtra, Gujrat, Goa, Madhya Paradesh and Karnataka.

Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai headed by Deputy High Commissioner Vadivel Krishnamoorthy undertook the task to repatriate students in two batches departing from Coimbatore on 26 April 2020 and from Bangalore on 28  April 2020, carrying 113 and 164 students respectively. The students were at Institutes in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Telangana.

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Kathmandu headed by Ambassador Himalee Arunatilaka repatriated 76 students from Kathmandu and Pokhara, which is around 200 km away from Kathmandu. Sri Lankan Airlines undertook the repatriation flight on 24 April 2020 to Kathmandu – a destination to which the national carrier does not have regular commercial flights.

Seventy three (73) students from various locations in Bangladesh, from the cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, Comilla, Savar and Sylhet were repatriated was undertaken on 28 April 2020 by Sri Lankan Airlines.  The Sri Lanka High Commission in Dhaka headed by Acting High Commissioner Sameera Dayasekara spearheaded the repatriation and received the support of numerous state society organizations in Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Sri Lanka Missions in the South Asian region appreciates the cooperation extended by the Governments of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the state governments and the local authorities, Departments of Immigration, Authorities of Civil Aviation, academic institutes, the respective tri-forces of these countries, and Sri Lankan Organizations particularly the Mahabodhi Society in Kolkata, for providing unstinted cooperation and coordination to make the repatriation process a success.

  

Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has said, so far repatriations have been carried out by the GOSL identifying the most vulnerable categories of Overseas Sri Lankans (OSLs), in the face of the limited availability of quarantine facilities in the country, as Sri Lanka continues to seek to gain control over the spread of COVID 19 in Sri Lanka.

In comments on Friday -24 April, (to Sirasa Radio and the “Dawasa” TV programme), the Secretary said through the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ web portal and other means, to-date, over 27,000 OSLs have expressed their wish to return. This number includes over 17,000 migrant workers and dependents, 6,000 students and about 3,000 short term visa holders and tourists.

Secretary Aryasinha said the government’s focus in the present wave of repatriation was on students and those on government training in South Asia, considering the particular vulnerability they faced from a medical perspective. This repatriation process is being operationalized by Sri Lanka Missions in those countries in consultation with the Ministry, the Covid 19 Task Force and a host of national agencies. Similar developing situations elsewhere are also being closely monitored by the Ministry of Foreign Relations and appropriate recommendations will be made for the consideration of the policy makers, for decision and facilitation for repatriation.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s network of 67 Missions are assisting and facilitating Sri Lankan expatriates in need. In addition to provision of dry rations and medicines, where necessary with the assistance of local Sri Lanka community and religious organizations, Missions are also facilitating extension of visa, enabling repatriation/transfer of funds through banking channels, coordination with educational institutes and overall ensuring the well-being of OSLs.

He said the specific situation in Kuwait, where an amnesty has been declared for over 19,000 workers who are out of status, has been a key focus of the Ministry. The Governments of Sri Lanka and Kuwait are in discussion to extend the amnesty period and the modalities of implementation were the focus of a discussion held this week by Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and the Kuwaiti Ambassador in Colombo Khalaf M. M. Bu Dhhair, pursuant to a telephone conversation held between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Kuwati Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. The Foreign Secretary said following these discussions, conscious of the difficulty in repatriating persons to Sri Lanka at this time, a mutually beneficial decision is expected.

Secretary Aryasinha noted, that Missions had been able to minimize the vulnerability faced by the OSLs migrant workers in most settings. Assistance provided by International organizations such as IOM, Caritas and Red Crescent societies have been supportive to further the efforts of the Missions. He said the Mission in Seoul, ROK had assured that while there had been delays in some commencing their employment contracts, their jobs were secure. The Mission is also engaged in discussions with local authorities to extend the contractual periods of those currently due to complete their contracts in the ROK. The Mission is additionally seeking opportunities to fill any gaps in employment, which could arise due to the dislocation caused by the present pandemic.

Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has observed that even as the Foreign Ministry was preoccupied with endeavouring to mitigate a multitude of problems faced by Overseas Sri Lankans, it was in parallel also seeking to re-position Sri Lanka’s exports in the context of market conditions that have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. He said if this was successful, Sri Lanka would emerge one step ahead in the global supply chain, in a post COVID-19 world.

The Foreign Secretary made these observations earlier this week in an appearance on the Sri Lanka Rupavahini’s ‘Ethera Methara’ programme. Commenting on the efforts by Sri Lanka’s network of 67 Missions and Consulate-General Offices abroad in promoting Sri Lanka’s exports during these constrained times, he said the Ministry’s traditional ‘Economic Diplomacy Programme’ led by the Economic Affairs Division, has been modified to accommodate the changed circumstances.

It is noted that the Ministry of Foreign Relations, together with the Export Development Board (EDB) and Sri Lankan Missions abroad, are continuing to explore access for Sri Lankan products into new markets, to support the government’s economic plan in sustaining the economy during the pandemic and mitigating the economic downturn in its aftermath. Informed by weekly updates provided by Missions abroad on the evolving world markets as well as prevailing procedures, requirements and restrictions in their countries  of accreditation, in the background of COVID-19 pandemic, this initiative has thus far facilitated in connecting Sri Lankan exporters with importers in ten countries with regard to tea, spices, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), rubber gloves, face masks, reusable masks, surgical masks, surgical caps, surgical gowns, sanitary tissues, processed food, fruits and vegetables, spices and seafood.

Additional Secretary, Economic Affairs P.M. Amza notes that, to date 56 market updates have been filed by Sri Lanka missions abroad and all of them have been uploaded in the EDB website, which can be accessed at https://www.edb.gov.lk/marketalerts. The summary of the market updates received so far revealed that there is demand for Ceylon Tea from 21 countries (including orders amounting to 336 MT to Turkey, 100 MT to Egypt and 25 MT to Libya, materialized during the last two weeks), face masks from 25 countries, protective gowns from 15 countries, PPE from 13 countries and rubber gloves from 15 countries. There are also demands for food and vegetables from 13 countries.

The Ministry is also working with Sri Lanka Tea Board in expediting the process of authentication of export documents, in respect of tea consignments to various destinations in Middle East and Turkey, as well as several other products. Recognizing the difficulties faced by exporters the Ministry is also formally pursuing requests with the Customs and other relevant agencies in significant export destinations to facilitate the clearance of relevant documents of Sri Lankan exporters. Several Colombo based Diplomatic Missions have also cooperated in this endeavour by taking appropriate measures to also authenticate export documents.

Additionally, the Ministry is also supporting Sri Lanka Tourism in the facilitation required for over 12,000 foreign tourists who have chosen to remain in Sri Lanka, despite the present COVID-19 pandemic and the prevailing curfews in many parts of the country. This includes over 4000 tourists from Western countries, notwithstanding the continuance of commercial as well as charter flights to return home. Visas for tourists in Sri Lanka were automatically extended in the face of the crisis situation, up to 12 May, 2020.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය

COVID-19 අර්බුදයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස ඇතිවන වෙළඳපොළ තත්ත්වයන්ට මුහුණදීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන නැවත ස්ථානගත කිරීමට එතෙර පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩල අපේක්ෂා කරයි

එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින් මුහුණ දෙන ගැටලු රාශියක් අවම කිරීම සඳහා වූ වෑයමක විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශය නිරතව සිටිය ද, COVID-19 අර්බුදයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස ඉස්මතුවී තිබෙන වෙළඳපොළ තත්ත්වයන් පිළිබඳ සන්දර්භය හමුවේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන නැවත ස්ථානගත කිරීම සඳහා ද ඊට සමාන්තරව උත්සාහ දරනු ලබන බව විදේශ ලේකම් රවිනාථ ආර්යසිංහ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. මෙය සාර්ථක වුවහොත්, පශ්චාත් COVID-19 ලෝකය තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ගෝලීය සැපයුම් දාමයේ එක් පියවරක් ඉදිරියෙන් සිටිනු ඇතැයි ද ඔහු පැවසීය.

මෙම සතිය මුල දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික රූපවාහිණී සේවයේ ‘එතෙර මෙතෙර’ වැඩසටහනේ පෙනී සිටිමින් විදේශ ලේකම්වරයා මෙම අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කළේය. මෙම බලපෑමට ලක් වූ කාලසීමාවේ දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීම සඳහා එතෙර පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩල සහ කොන්සියුලර් ජනරාල් කාර්යාල 67 ක ජාලය දරන ප්‍රයත්න පිළිබඳව අදහස් දක්වමින් ඔහු පැවසුවේ, මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ආර්ථික කටයුතු අංශය විසින් මෙහෙයවනු ලබන සාම්ප්‍රදායික ‘ආර්ථික රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික වැඩසටහන’ මෙම වෙනස් වී ඇති තත්වයන්ට මුහුණ දීම සඳහා වෙනස් කොට ඇති බවයි.

මෙම ගෝලීය වසංගත කාලසීමාව තුළ දී රටේ ආර්ථිකය පවත්වාගෙන යාම සහ එයින් පසුව ඇතිවන ආර්ථික පසුබෑම අවම කිරීම සඳහා වූ රජයේ ආර්ථික සැලැස්මට සහාය වීම පිණිස විදේශ සබඳතා අමාත්‍යාංශය, අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය (EDB) සහ එතෙර පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩල සමඟ එක්ව ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිෂ්පාදන නව වෙළඳපලවල් වෙත ප්‍රවේශ කරවීම පිළිබඳව අඛණ්ඩව ගවේෂණය කරමින් සිටින බව මෙහි දී සඳහන් විය. COVID-19 ගෝලීය වසංගතයේ පසුබිම තුළ, වෙනස් වෙමින් පවතින ලෝක වෙළඳපොළ තත්ත්වයන් පිළිබඳව මෙන්ම, ඔවුන්ගේ අක්තගන්වා සිටින රටවල පවත්නා ක්‍රියා පටිපාටි, අවශ්‍යතා සහ සීමාවන් පිළිබඳව විදේශ දූත මණ්ඩල විසින් සිදුකරන සතිපතා යාවත්කාලීන කිරීම් මගින් දැනුවත් වෙමින්, තේ, කුළුබඩු, පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක උපකරණ (PPE), රබර් අත්වැසුම්, මුහුණු ආවරණ, නැවත භාවිතා කළ හැකි මුහුණු ආවරණ, ශල්‍ය මුහුණු ආවරණ, ශල්‍ය  හිස්වැසුම්, ශල්‍ය ඇඳුම්, සනීපාරක්ෂක අත්පිසින කඩදාසි, සැකසූ ආහාර, පලතුරු සහ එළවළු සහ මුහුදු ආහාර සම්බන්ධයෙන් රටවල් දහයක ආනයනකරුවන් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකා අපනයනකරුවන් සම්බන්ධ කිරීමට මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙල මඟින් මෙතෙක් පහසුකම් සලසා තිබේ.

මේ වන විට වෙළඳපොළ යාවත්කාලීන කිරීම් 56 ක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා දූත මණ්ඩල විසින් ගොනු කර ඇති බවත්, එම තොරතුරු වෙත අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලයේ වෙබ් අඩවිය වන  https://www.edb.gov.lk/marketalerts හරහා පිවිසිය හැකි බවත්, ආර්ථික කටයුතු පිළිබඳ අතිරේක ලේකම් පී. එම්. අම්සා මහතා මෙහි දී සඳහන් කළේය. මේ දක්වා ලැබී ඇති වෙළඳපල යාවත්කාලීන කිරීම්වල සාරාංශයෙන් හෙළි වූයේ, පසුගිය දෙසතිය තුළ ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ කාල සීමාව තුළ තුර්කියට මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 336 ක්, ඊජිප්තුවට මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 100 ක් සහ ලිබියාවට මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 25 ක් ද ඇතුළුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා තේ සඳහා රටවල් 21 කින්, මුහුණු ආවරණ සඳහා රටවල් 25 කින්, ආරක්ෂිත ඇඳුම් සඳහා රටවල් 15 කින්, පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක උපකරණ (PPE) සඳහා රටවල් 13 කින් සහ රබර් අත්වැසුම් සඳහා රටවල් 15 කින් ඉල්ලුම් ලැබී ඇති බවයි. ආහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය සහ එළවළු සඳහා ද රටවල් 13 කින් ඉල්ලීම් ලැබී තිබේ.

මැදපෙරදිග හා තුර්කියේ විවිධ ස්ථානවලට තේ තොග මෙන්ම තවත් නිෂ්පාදන කිහිපයක් යැවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපනයන ලේඛන සත්‍යාපනය කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය කඩිනම් කිරීම සඳහා මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය ශ්‍රී ලංකා තේ මණ්ඩලය සමඟ කටයුතු කරයි. අපනයනකරුවන් මුහුණ දෙන දුෂ්කරතා හඳුනා ගනිමින්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා අපනයනකරුවන්ගේ අදාළ ලියකියවිලි නිෂ්කාශනය කිරීම පහසු කිරීම සඳහා, සැලකිය යුතු අපනයන ස්ථානවල රේගු සහ වෙනත් අදාළ ආයතන සමඟ එම ඉල්ලීම් පිළිබඳව මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් විධිමත් ලෙස කටයුතු කරනු ලැබේ. අපනයන ලියකියවිලි සත්‍යාපනය කිරීම සඳහා සුදුසු පියවර ගනිමින්, කොළඹ පිහිටි රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික දූත මණ්ඩල කිහිපයක් ද මෙම ප්‍රයත්නයට සහයෝගය ලබා දී ඇත.

මීට අමතරව, වර්තමාන COVID-19 ගෝලීය වසංගතය සහ රටේ බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවල පවතින ඇඳිරි නීතිය තිබියදීත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රැඳී සිටීමට තීරණය කොට ඇති විදේශීය සංචාරකයින් 12,000 කට වැඩි පිරිසකට අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් සලසමින් මෙම අමාත්‍යාංශය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරයට ද සහාය වෙමින් සිටියි. ආපසු සිය රටවල් බලා යාම සඳහා වාණිජ හා වරලත් ගුවන් ගමන් අඛණ්ඩව පැවතිය ද, මෙහි රැඳී සිටින බටහිර රටවල සංචාරකයින් 4000 කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් මෙයට ඇතුළත් වේ. මෙම අර්බුදකාරී තත්ත්වය හමුවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිටින සංචාරකයින් සඳහා වන වීසා බලපත්‍ර 2020 මැයි 12 වැනි දින දක්වා ස්වයංක්‍රීයව දීර්ඝ කරන ලදී.

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வெளிநாட்டிலுள்ள இலங்கையர்கள் எதிர்கொள்ளும் ஏராளமான பிரச்சினைகளைத் தணிக்கும் முயற்சியில் வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு செயற்பட்டிருந்த போதிலும், அதற்கு இணையாக கோவிட்-19 நெருக்கடியின் விளைவாக ஏற்பட்ட சந்தை நிலைமைகளின் பின்னணியில் இலங்கையின் ஏற்றுமதியை மீண்டும் நிலைநிறுத்துவதற்கு முயற்சித்து வருகின்றது என வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் ரவிநாத ஆரியசிங்க தெரிவித்தார். இது வெற்றிகரமாக அமைந்தால், கோவிட்-19 க்குப் பிந்தைய உலகின் உலகளாவிய விநியோகச் சங்கிலியில் இலங்கை ஒரு படி முன்னேற்றம் கண்டிருக்கும் என அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

இந்த வாரத்தின் ஆரம்பத்தில் இலங்கை ரூபாவாஹினியில் இடம்பெற்ற ‘எத்தெர மெத்தெர’ நிகழ்ச்சியல் வெளிவிவகார செயலாளர் இந்த அவதானிப்புக்களை மேற்கொண்டிருந்தார். இந்த இறுக்கமான காலகட்டத்தில் இலங்கையின் ஏற்றுமதியை மேம்படுத்துவதில் இலங்கையின் 67 தூதரகங்கள் மற்றும் உதவித் தூதரக அலுவலகங்களின் வலையமைப்பினால் மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்ட முயற்சிகள் குறித்து கருத்துத் தெரிவித்த அவர், பொருளாதார விவகாரப் பிரிவினால் தலைமை தாங்கப்படும் அமைச்சின் பாரம்பரிய ‘பொருளாதார இராஜதந்திரத் திட்டம்’ தற்போது மாற்றமடைந்துள்ள சூழ்நிலைகளுக்கு ஏற்ப மாற்றியமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது எனத் தெரிவித்தார்.

தொற்றுநோயின் போது பொருளாதாரத்தைத் தக்கவைத்துக் கொள்வதிலும், அதன் பின்னர் ஏற்பட்ட பொருளாதார வீழ்ச்சியைத் தணிப்பதிலுமான அரசாங்கத்தின் பொருளாதாரத் திட்டத்தை ஆதரிப்பதற்காக, புதிய சந்தைகளில் இலங்கைத் தயாரிப்புக்களை அணுகிக் கொள்வதனை ஏற்றுமதி அபிவிருத்தி சபை மற்றும் வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள இலங்கையின் தூதரகங்கள் ஆகியவற்றுடன் இணைந்து வெளிநாட்டு உறவுகள் அமைச்சு தொடர்ந்தும் ஆராய்ந்து வருகின்றது. கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோயின் பின்னணியில், வளர்ந்து வரும் உலக சந்தைகள் மற்றும் அங்கீகாரம் பெற்ற நாடுகளில் அமுலிலுள்ள நடைமுறைகள், தேவைகள் மற்றும் கட்டுப்பாடுகள் குறித்து வெளிநாடுகளிலுள்ள தூதரகங்கள் வழங்கிய வாராந்த புதுப்பிக்கப்பட்ட தகவல்களுக்கு அமைவாக, தேயிலை, சுவையூட்டிகள், தனிப்பட்ட பாதுகாப்பு உபகரணங்கள், ரப்பர் கையுறைகள், முகமூடிகள், மீண்டும் பயன்படுத்தக்கூடிய முகமூடிகள், சத்திரசிகிச்சை முகமூடிகள், சத்திரசிகிச்சைத் தொப்பிகள், சத்திரசிகிச்சை ஆடைகள், சுகாதார மெல்லிழைத்தாள்கள், பதப்படுத்தப்பட்ட உணவு, பழங்கள் மற்றும் மரக்கறிகள், சுவையூட்டிகள் மற்றும் கடல் உணவுகள் தொடர்பாக இலங்கையின் ஏற்றுமதியாளர்களை பத்து நாடுகளிலுள்ள இறக்குமதியாளர்களுடன் இணைப்பதற்கு இந்த முயற்சி இதுவரை உதவியுள்ளது.

இன்றுவரை புதுப்பிக்கப்பட்ட 56 சந்தைத் தகவல்களை வெளிநாடுகளுக்கு இலங்கை வழங்கியுள்ளதாகவும், அவை அனைத்தும் ஏற்றுமதி அபிவிருத்தி சபையின் இணையத்தளத்தில் பதிவேற்றப்பட்டுள்ளதாகவும், அதனை https://www.edb.gov.lk/marketalerts என்ற இணைய முகவரியில் அணுகிக் கொள்ள முடியும் என்றும் பொருளாதார விவகாரங்களுக்கான மேலதிக செயலாளர் பி.எம். அம்ஸா குறிப்பிட்டார். இலங்கைத் தேயிலைக்கான தேவை 21 நாடுகளிலும் (கடந்த இரண்டு வாரங்களில் செயற்படுத்தப்பட்ட துருக்கிக்கான 336 மெட்ரிக் டன், எகிப்துக்கான 100 மெட்ரிக் டன் மற்றும் லிபியாவிற்கான 25 மெட்ரிக் டன் செயற்கட்டளைகள் உள்ளடங்கலாக), முகமூடிகளுக்கான தேவை 25 நாடுகளிலும், பாதுகாப்பு ஆடைகளுக்கான தேவை 15 நாடுகளிலும், தனிப்பட்ட பாதுகாப்பு உபகரணங்களுக்கான தேவை 13 நாடுகளிலும் மற்றும் ரப்பர் கையுறைகளுக்கான தேவை 15 நாடுகளிலும் இருப்பதனை இதுவரை பெறப்பட்ட புதுப்பிக்கப்பட்ட சந்தைத் தகவல்களின் சுருக்கம் வெளிப்படுத்தியுள்ளது. மேலும், 13 நாடுகளில் உணவு மற்றும் மரக்கறிகளுக்கான தேவைகள் உள்ளன.

மத்திய கிழக்கு மற்றும் துருக்கியிலுள்ள பல்வேறு இடங்களுக்கான தேயிலை சரக்குகள் மற்றும் பல்வேறு தயாரிப்புக்கள் தொடர்பான ஏற்றுமதி ஆவணங்களை அங்கீகரிக்கும் செயன்முறையை விரைவுபடுத்துவதற்காக, இலங்கைத் தேயிலை சபையுடன் இணைந்து அமைச்சு செயற்படுகின்றது. ஏற்றுமதியாளர்கள் எதிர்கொள்ளும் சிரமங்களை உணர்ந்து, இலங்கை ஏற்றுமதியாளர்களின் சம்பந்தப்பட்ட ஆவணங்களை தடை நீக்கம் செய்வதற்கு வசதியாக, ஏற்றுமதி செய்யும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்க இடங்களில் சுங்கம் மற்றும் ஏனைய சம்பந்தப்பட்ட நிறுவனங்களுடன் முறையான கோரிக்கைகளை அமைச்சு மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றது. ஏற்றுமதி ஆவணங்களை அங்கீகரிப்பதற்குத் தேவையான நடவடிக்கைகளை மேற்கொள்வதன் மூலமாக, கொழும்பைத் தளமாகக் கொண்ட பல்வேறு இராஜதந்திரத் தூதரகங்களும் இந்த முயற்சியில் ஒத்துழைப்புக்களை வழங்கியுள்ளன.

மேலும், தற்போதைய கோவிட்-19 தொற்றுநோய் நிலைமை மற்றும் நாட்டின் பல்வேறு பகுதிகளிலும் நிலவும் ஊரடங்கு உத்தரவு ஆகியவற்றுக்கு மத்தியிலும், இலங்கையில் தங்கியிருப்பதற்குத் தீர்மானித்த 12,000 க்கும் மேற்பட்ட வெளிநாட்டு சுற்றுலாப் பயணிகளுக்குத் தேவையான வசதிகளை இலங்கை சுற்றுலாத் துறைக்கு அமைச்சு வழங்கி வருகின்றது. வணிக மற்றும் பட்டய விமானங்கள் மூலமாக தொடர்ந்தும் நாடு திரும்புகின்ற போதிலும், மேற்கத்தேய நாடுகளைச் சேர்ந்த 4000 க்கும் மேற்பட்ட சுற்றுலாப் பயணிகள் இதில் உள்ளடங்குவர். நெருக்கடி நிலைமையை கருத்திற் கொண்டு, இலங்கையில் சுற்றுலாப் பயணிகளுக்கான வீசாக்கள் 2020 மே 12 ஆந் திகதி வரை தானாக நீடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.

In a post earlier today to Missions in Sri Lanka and abroad on the one-year anniversary of the suicide attacks on Easter Sunday, 21st April 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Relations observed:

“On this day, Sri Lanka remembers all those lives lost and changed forever in barbaric acts of violence one year ago. We share the grief of families who lost their loved ones and stand in solidarity with those countries which lost their nationals”.

These attacks on churches and hotels killed around 270 persons, Sri Lankans as well as foreign nationals from 14 countries from across the world, and injured many others, on a day venerated by Christians the world over. Among those killed were citizens from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Denmark, India, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK and USA.

In commemorating this date and the loss of so many lives in Sri Lanka, officials of Sri Lanka Missions in countries of accreditation which lost their nationals in these attacks, took the initiative to contact the families of those foreign nationals, to express Sri Lanka’s grief at their loss and offered continued solidarity. Others were conveyed formal sentiments of condolences through their respective Foreign Offices. The officials were in return met with grace and appreciation even at this time of remembrance of grief and irreplaceable loss.

Sri Lanka Missions in the Middle East have reported that the welfare measures for migrant workers in the Middle East have received an added boost this week, following the decision by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) to make available resources from the Workers’ Welfare Fund, originally confined to those registered with the Bureau, to all migrant workers irrespective of their registration status, through units within Sri Lanka Missions abroad in 16 stations. This is in addition to funds already allocated by the Foreign Ministry and services provided by Missions in collaboration with local Sri Lankan associations and religious establishments across the world in 67 cities. The Foreign Ministry has also sought an additional allocation from the Treasury to meet the increasing needs of all Overseas Sri Lankans, presently amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, to increase the efforts of distribution of dry rations. This is to help overcome immediate difficulties experienced by the migrants who are unable to return to Sri Lanka, in view of the present closure of the airports in Sri Lanka for arrival, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These measures were the focus of a video conference held on Wednesday (15 April) chaired by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha and attended by senior officials overseeing the region and with the Ambassadors of Sri Lanka Missions and Consulates in the Middle East. Generic issues and other aspects of the present crisis, were also discussed during the meeting. Heads of Mission and SLBFE Heads of Unit in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Iran and Israel participated in the discussion. Earlier last Friday (10 April), Minister of Foreign Relations, Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations, Dinesh Gunawardena met with the respective Secretaries and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Ministry of Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations, as well as senior officials of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, where policy changes were discussed to address issues relating to migrant workers, particularly in the context of  the ramifications emanating from the present Coronavirus pandemic. This was followed by a meeting of the SLBFE Board of Members, where the proposed changes were formally endorsed.

Special emphasis was placed to address the consequences resulting from the increasing cases of  unemployment, loss of contracts, non-extension of work permits, and halting of temporary freelance work, which have left sections of these workers in need of urgent assistance to maintain their basic living conditions and also to ensure that their families back home are assisted where possible. Taking note of the need to diplomatically and politically engage countries which have already declared Amnesty, permitting the workers to leave, the Ministry instructed the Sri Lanka Missions to commence negotiations with local authorities and respective Labour Ministries to reach possible settlements in legalizing the status of unregistered workers and also to find amicable solutions to various disputes that have arisen due to violation of contract agreements, loss of employment and legal status.

The Missions also reported to the Ministry that in the case of those Sri Lankans who reach out for medical assistance on account of being suspected or having contracted the COVID-19, immediate measures are being taken to direct them to the local hospitals providing medical facilities and thereafter to be constantly monitored by the Embassy officials.

The video conference also discussed the support extended by multilateral organizations such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Red Crescent Society, in some countries in the distribution of food rations to needy Sri Lankans, and assistance for the provision of medical advice and consultation extended to Sri Lankans through community volunteers specialized in this field. Appreciating this support and the need for continued assistance, the Ministry has made representations seeking additional support to all Sri Lanka Missions to the IOM and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) Headquarters in Geneva through the Sri Lanka Permanent Mission in Geneva and their Heads of Agency in Sri Lanka.

The establishment of databases to gather information on the Sri Lankans in each country set up by the Missions has facilitated compilation of data on/about the Sri Lankan workforce, which is presently shared with the Ministry. In addition, the ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ online portal launched by the Foreign Ministry and widely circulated among the communities overseas, presently serves as an ideal platform for information sharing and engagement with the Ministry and the Missions particularly at this time of crisis. As of 15 April, 21,575 of the 59,419 who have registered on the portal are resident in the Middle East region.

The Foreign Ministry has instructed all Missions to continue maintaining the 24-hour emergency hotlines and to deploy Embassy staff on a continuous duty roster to attend to the daily needs and queries of the Sri Lankan communities in these respective stations.