Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena this evening (18 December) received a telephone call from the Foreign Minister of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis regarding the status of the Sri Lankan employee at the Swiss Embassy Ms. Garnier Banister Francis. She is presently in custody on reasonable suspicion of committing offenses under Sections 120 and 190 of the Penal Code, that could justify a criminal charge of disaffection towards the government, and fabricating false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of a judicial proceeding, in her alleged abduction claim.

Hanspeter Mock, Ambassador of Switzerland in Sri Lanka called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (16).

Conveying warm congratulations to the President over his recent election victory on his and his government’s behalf, the Ambassador said that he especially appreciated President Rajapaksa’s remark that “he is the President of all Sri Lankans”. “Switzerland is happy that traditional relations with Sri Lanka remain strong and mutually beneficial”.

Focusing his attention on recent incident involving a locally recruited official of the Swiss Embassy, Mr. MOCK stressed that Switzerland harboured no intention to do any harm to Sri Lanka.

State Minister Susil Premajayantha assumed duties as the State Minister of International Cooperation on 28 November 2019 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo.

Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dinesh Gunawardena assumed duties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 25 November 2019