C’wealth Sec. Gen. lauds SL’S dedication to universal healthcare

Commonwealth Secretarygeneral Patricia Scotland called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday (1) and lauded Sri Lanka for its dedication to universal healthcare.

Dame Scotland arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday on a four-day official visit. During the meeting, she thanked the Prime Minister for Sri Lanka’s strong support to the Commonwealth.“i laud Sri Lanka for being a blue charter champion on mangroves, its support for the Commonwealth Small States Trade Finance Facility and dedication to universal health care,” she tweeted.

She said they held a fruitful discussion on oceans, climate change, connectivity, trade and small states.“i presented the Prime Minister with the Secretariat’s suite of tool kits on governance and accountability, especially the SDGS implementation toolkit,” she said.

She also met Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana and held discussions on the CHOGM 2018 mandate delivery, including Sri Lanka’s role as champion country on restoring mangroves.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry earlier said this was Dame Scotland’s first visit to Sri Lanka since she assumed the Office of Secretary-general in April 2016.

During her meeting with Minister Malik Samarawickrama, he had pledged to contribute Sri Lanka’s Entrepreneurial Strategy to the Commonwealth Innovation Hub and make use of Commonwealth innovation.

She was also scheduled to meet Minister Faiszer Musthapha, Sagala Ratnayake, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan.