15th September 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Democracy is the best path to long term peace, stability and sustainable development. It doesn’t just mean elections, though they are important too. It’s about having a say in the decisions that affect us, independent institutions that function as they were intended to and rule of law that upholds our human rights and protects us […]
17th June 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Last night, we hosted a very special event at the High Commissioner’s residence: a party to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday. Over 400 friends of the High Commission, from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the UK, from Government to civil society to the private sector, gathered to toast the longest reigning monarch in […]
14th April 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Congratulations to our two Sri Lankan Chevening CRISP fellows for 2016, Gayani Abeyasinghe and Balathasan Sayanthan, who are about to start their three month programme at the Saïd Business School in Oxford. This is the second year that Sri Lanka has been part of CRISP, a fellowship aimed at mid-career professionals from India and Sri […]
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4th April 2016 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Since 2010, the British Government has spent over £5 million on de-mining in Sri Lanka. Anyone wondering why humanitarian demining agencies are still working here years after the end of the war need look no further than the achievements of UK funded deminers in just two months this year. During February and March, the men […]
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17th December 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Last week, I marched from Vihara Maha Devi Park to Independence Square behind a 0% Tolerance for Corruption banner. The march was organised by the Sri Lankan Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption, enlivened by military marching bands and hairy black corruption devils, and sponsored by a range of local and international organisations, […]
10th November 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
James Bond’s latest adventure, SPECTRE, launched in Sri Lanka last week. To celebrate, we held a glittering party at the High Commissioner’s residence, in Colombo 007. Guests came from Sri Lanka’s creative arts scene, business and Government to admire the best of British talent. Beautiful cars driven at high speed around extraordinary locations are an […]
1st September 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
This blog celebrates the fact that today, on Tuesday 1 September, Sri Lanka became a fully fledged member of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. Sri Lanka is the first country in South Asia, and only the second in Asia after Japan, to join this Convention. Cybercrime is any kind of crime committed with a computer […]
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21st August 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Monday’s general election was very tight. It was also remarkably peaceful. From the President and Elections Commissioner down, all involved have commented positively on the conduct of the election, many describing it as Sri Lanka’s best in decades. It’s not for the UK to support one party over another. Our interest is for Sri Lanka […]
26th July 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
This year, we are celebrating fifty years of bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Maldives. That relationship started on 26 July 1965, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That moment is captured in a famous photo, with Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan, Prime Minister and Sir Micheal Walker, British Ambassador designate to the […]
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10th July 2015 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka and the Maldives have never been more popular for beach-lovers, backpackers or Brits: over 144,000 British tourists visited Sri Lanka last year, and almost 16,000 holidayed in the Maldives in February alone this year. Around five thousand British Nationals have set down permanent or semi-permanent roots here too. For the most part, travellers […]
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