Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya met members of the Sri Lankan community in London on Tuesday during her official visit to the United Kingdom, with the Prime Minister’s Office reporting that nearly 1,000 people attended.
Despite the weekday timing, attendees came from the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities, the PMO said. Amarasuriya told the gathering that the government had managed to stabilise the economy and deliver relief to citizens despite natural disasters and international crises, and that Sri Lanka’s political culture had undergone a “positive transformation that is irreversible.”
Minister of Women and Child Affairs Saroja Savithri Paulraj, who is accompanying the Prime Minister, said a governance system had been established where all communities were treated equally and the benefits of economic development were shared fairly. The event was structured to give community members an open platform to raise questions and views directly to the ministers, a departure from the more scripted format common at overseas Sri Lankan gatherings.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Nimal Senadheera also attended.
The London community meeting follows the Prime Minister’s bilateral talks with the UK Foreign Secretary and British Council on education earlier in the week, and her earlier appearance at the Commonwealth Education Forum in Oxford. The UK leg is one of the most extensive diaspora engagements undertaken by a sitting Prime Minister since the NPP government took office.
