Two Sri Lankan parliamentary delegations travelled abroad last week, to a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation forum on traditional medicine in China and to the 69th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in South Africa.
Nanchang: traditional medicine
Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne led the delegation to the 2026 SCO Forum on Traditional Medicine, held from 16 to 18 September in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. The group left Bandaranaike International Airport on the evening of 15 September and also included Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Hansaka Wijemuni and Marasinghege Jayalal, Managing Director of the Sri Lanka Ayurveda Drug Corporation.
The forum ran under the theme “Empowering Traditional Medicine with Modern Technology to Co-build Human Health for All,” and was organised jointly by the SCO’s Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission and the Jiangxi provincial government.
Wickramaratne addressed the opening ceremony on 17 September, setting out Sri Lanka’s Ayurvedic and indigenous medical heritage and arguing for combining that knowledge with modern research, quality assurance and training. He said there is room to strengthen cooperation with China on medicinal plants, scientific research, education and training, quality standards, technology, and developing safe and effective traditional medicine products.
Cape Town: Commonwealth conference
A separate delegation attended the 69th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Cape Town from 13 to 19 September, hosted by the Parliament of South Africa under the theme “Strengthening International Law and Parliamentary Democracy in a Changing World Order: Commonwealth Leadership.”
It was led by Deputy Minister of Mass Media Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathna and included Deputy Minister of Cooperative Development Upali Samarasinghe and MPs Sagarika Athauda, Ilankumaran Karunanathan, Sugath Wasantha de Silva and Suranga Rathnayake, with Secretary-General of Parliament Kushani Anusha Rohanadeera.
Ariyarathna, the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Asia Regional Representative, chaired a workshop at the 10th CWP Conference on gender mainstreaming in parliamentary procedure and policy.
De Silva received the CPA New Parliamentarian Award 2026 at the Commonwealth Parliamentarian of the Year ceremony on 17 September, recognised for his work on disability rights and inclusive governance.
