FM inaugurates Foreign Service training course

FOREIGN MINISTER Lakshman Kadirgamar inaugurated the Foreign Service Training Course for officers of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service at the Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations in Colombo recently, states a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry.

A comprehensive training course which will provide continuous training covering all areas of relevance to a Foreign Service officer has been a long felt need.

The course will be a permanent feature of the Foreign Service and will be open to all members, not only the newly recruited entrants. Its objective is to provide a comprehensive program to help Foreign Service officers to better carry out their functions as diplomatic representatives of the country.

A wide range of topics relating to Sri Lanka's foreign relations - both bilateral and multilateral, the country's cultural heritage, diplomatic practice and protocol procedure, international law and treaty responsibilities, the United Nations system, issues of national interest such as the peace process, economic and trade related policies, post tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction, consular affairs and welfare of Sri Lankans abroad, negotiating skills, media relations, reporting and public speaking will be covered by a number of eminent persons with wide experience in these subjects.

Speaking to the members of the Foreign Service Minister Kadirgamar said that the inauguration of the training course in Colombo was the realisation of a dream he had nurtured from the time he first became Foreign Minister in 1994.

Minister Kadirgamar added that there are no permanent interests for a country, as interests change. A good example is the current shift of focus from purely political viewpoints to economic perspectives, seen in foreign policy decision-making in the modern world. He noted that diplomatic officers representing the State abroad have to uphold and safeguard the national interest of the country at all times.

The Minister added that while foreign policy reflects a country's domestic policies, no country can make foreign policy decisions in isolation, since a country would have to take into consideration not only its own national interest and domestic policies, but also its relations with its neighbours and other key actors in constantly changing international circumstances.

He observed that daring foreign policy initiatives taken by past Sri Lankan leaders many decades ago continue to yield beneficial results even today.

The Minister thanked Manel Abeysekera, former career Ambassador and Dharmasiri Peiris, former senior civil servant and Secretary to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who will serve as Consultant and Advisor to the course respectively, for their efforts towards formulating the current training course. Secretary/Foreign Affairs H. M. G. S. Palihakkara also spoke. All the Colombo-based Foreign Service officers participated in the inaugural meeting of the training course.