Sri Lankan Ambassador Hasanthi Dissanayake delivers Credentials in Ankara

Saranya Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake, the recently appointed ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Turkey, presented her credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, confirming her appointment as the ambassador extraordinaire and plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Türkiye.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, has received greetings from President Erdoan. He also remembered Sri Lanka's long-standing bilateral ties with Turkey, which go back to the Ottoman Empire's ninth century. He stated that the Ottoman Empire's appointment of an Honorary Consul to Sri Lanka with a house in Galle in 1864 marked the beginning of the two countries' formal relations.

President Erdoan also referred to his 2005 visit to Sri Lanka while serving as Prime Minister of Turkey, noting the government of Turkey's humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka as well as the gift of medical supplies to Sri Lanka in August 2022. He expressed his gratitude for the support given to Turkish Airlines' ongoing operations in Sri Lanka, noting that the company was one of the few to continue operating between Istanbul and Colombo despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a senior career diplomat appointed by the President of Sri Lanka, Ambassador Dissanayake thanked President Erdoan for his comments and stated that she is steadfastly devoted to advancing the friendly and long-standing bilateral relations between the two nations. She also expressed her gratitude to the President and the Turkish government for their support of Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva.

The Ambassador also gave President Erdoan a briefing on the political and economic situation in Sri Lanka and reaffirmed her commitment to improving long-standing ties for the mutual benefit of both nations.

As the visionary founding father of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modernised the country with secular, pluralist democratic features as part of the "Kemalist" ideology, which resulted in the empowerment of women as a necessary condition for development, Ambassador Dissanayake expressed her inspiration from him.

The Veteran Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's visionary leadership in changing the nation into a modern State with the emancipation of all its citizens, including women, and reforming the justice and legal system to offer fairness to everyone is in fact a source of inspiration for people all over the world. This, according to Ambassador Dissanayake, has also been the shared vision of the two nations throughout their long-standing partnership.

She emphasised that 2023 is a very significant year for both nations collectively and for their bilateral relations as Turkey and Sri Lanka would each be commemorating their respective 100th anniversaries of independence. Sri Lanka and Turkey will commemorate the establishment of diplomatic ties on this occasion.

President Erdoan's commitment to hosting the 16th Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in 2023, the global Zero Waste initiative, and the announcement of the largest wave energy project in the world were among the environmental and climate initiatives the Ambassador commended President Erdoan for.

The fact that Turkey is sheltering 3.6 million Syrian refugees, as well as 400,000 other refugees and its soft diplomacy abilities in arranging the Black Sea Grain Deal, were highly regarded.

As important areas of cooperation for advancing bilateral investment and trade, the necessity to finalise bilateral agreements on investment promotion and protection, avoidance of double taxation, and customs matters was emphasised. Increased collaboration in the tourism, energy, technology, cultural, and education sectors was also discussed.

It was also mentioned that fellow Sri Lankan Foreign Service Officer Niluka Kadurugamuwa had translated the two novels of Nobel Literature Laureate and Turkish novelist, screenwriter, and scholar Orhan Pamuk into Sinhalese.

The third session of the bilateral Economic and Technical Cooperation will be held in Ankara, according to Ambassador Dissanayake, who also mentioned that she is working closely with Turkish Airlines and the Turkish Ambassador in Colombo on a variety of economic cooperation projects.

Prior to joining the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1996, Ambassador Saranya Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake held diplomatic positions as Sri Lanka's ambassador to Vietnam, consul general in Shanghai, and in other countries like Sweden, Italy, Japan, and Japan.

She served as the Additional Secretary for Ocean Affairs, Climate Change and Environment in the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka before being named the country's ambassador to the Republic of Turkey.