Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya left Sri Lanka on Monday for an official visit to Bhutan, where she will address the opening plenary of the inaugural Global Conscious Food Systems Summit on Tuesday.

She will deliver a keynote under the theme “Rising to the Moment: Igniting Consciousness to Address the Polycrisis,” Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror reported, both citing the Prime Minister’s Office. She is also expected to hold discussions with international leaders and representatives on sustainable food systems, food security and building resilient communities.

The first such visit since 2010

Neither Sri Lankan outlet reported the visit’s bilateral significance. According to a press release issued by Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade on Sunday, the trip runs from 31 August to 5 September and is being made at the invitation of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

It will be the first visit to Bhutan by a Sri Lankan head of state or government in 16 years, which the ministry described as a milestone in relations between the two countries.

Amarasuriya is scheduled to meet Bhutanese Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay and other senior officials, with talks expected to cover education, health, culture, people-to-people ties and sustainable development. Neither Ada Derana nor the Daily Mirror mentioned the bilateral meetings.

What the summit is

The summit runs in Paro from 31 August to 4 September and is billed as the first global gathering dedicated to the role of consciousness, values, culture, spirituality and inner transformation in building sustainable and regenerative food systems. It is jointly hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Conscious Food Systems Alliance and the United Nations Development Programme, under the theme “Activating the Heart of Food Systems Transformation.”

The Bhutanese ministry said the opening plenary will be held at Dungkar Dzong, and that speakers include former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former Irish president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson. It put attendance at 260 international participants and more than 100 Bhutanese participants.

Context

The trip comes as the government works through a run of food-security pressures at home. Ministers have been reviewing importer stocks as El Niño threatens supplies, and Amarasuriya has made school nutrition a recurring theme, telling the World Food Programme this month that school meals alone will not curb non-communicable diseases and overseeing a school gardening scheme now in 400 Nuwara Eliya schools.

Neither Sri Lankan outlet named the officials accompanying the Prime Minister, said who will carry out her duties in her absence, or reported whether any agreement is expected to be signed in Thimphu.

Sources