Social scientist slams German envoy’s remark

Denying LNG power project to local firm

A German social scientist living in Sri Lanka criticised German Ambassador Jorn Rohde over his critical remark of the Cabinet for not granting the tender to local power company ‘Lakdhanavi’ for implementing an LNG power project.

Spokesman for the Interestgroup ‘Germans in Sri Lanka’ and the head of AGSEP RESEARCH in Sri Lanka for 35 years, Dietmar Doering said; “we being Germans living here in Sri Lanka as welcomed guests and investors cannot endorse the German Ambassador’s public criticism to an elected government which grants us stay right here in Sri Lanka.”

He said the ambassador’s remark borders on violations to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR). He was referring to a news story that appeared in Daily Mirror in which the German Ambassador openly criticises the Sri Lankan Cabinet for not having awarded the contract to the local company for which the German company giant Siemens AG is the technology provider.

Mr. Doering said; “the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR), the leading legal instrument on diplomatic relations between States, provides in Article 41 that persons enjoying diplomatic privileges and immunities ‘have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs’ of the receiving States. A reference to this norm and to its equivalent in customary law has been made by the International Court of Justice.”

The ambassador’s remark borders on violations to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations