Your Excellencies, Ayubowan! Good Evening!
At the outset, I congratulate His Excellency Ilam Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, the Chair of the Non Aligned Movement, for the timely initiative to hold this Summit, to address one of the most critical challenges the world has faced in modern times.
Modalities to issue temporary travel documents to undocumented workers abroad following proper authentication procedures has been agreed on by the Department of Immigration and Emigration. This follows consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ministry of Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations and Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE). It is intended to facilitate the repatriation of migrant workers, once the Government decides on a timeline for their repatriation. This was discussed at a meeting convened today (04 May 2020) by the Minister of Foreign Relations, Skills Development, Employment and Labour Relations, Dinesh Gunawardena with the relevant line agencies .
I wish to make use of this occasion of the International Workers’ Day to salute and pay my respect to the working masseswho are making boundless sacrifices in the face of challenges before the nation caused by COVID – 19 outbreak.
Many were the challenges we faced and overcame throughout history. In each such instance, working class in the country is the segment that was directly affected and at the forefront. History has proven their resilience and commitment, which, indeed is a great credit to the working class. It is certain that we will win the battle against COVID – 19 as we had conquered all the difficulties in the past,hand in hand with the working class.
April 26 2020, Colombo : SriLankan Airlines wishes to clarify details of social media posts that are currently circulating, implying that the airline has charged an excessive sum of money from passengers who were on a specially operated flight to repatriate stranded Sri Lankan students from India to Sri Lanka.
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.