[By Janaka Alahapperuma]

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New York City on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday 25 September. The discussion between the Commonwealth and Sri Lankan delegations was mainly based on the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) – 2013 which is scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in November. Secretary-General, Sharma informed President Rajapaksa that representatives of many countries who visited Sri Lanka recently as a part of the advance visits prior to the CHOGM were very satisfied with the planning underway in preparation for the summit.

The delegation from the Commonwealth Secretariat consisted of the Director of the Office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General Simon Gimson, Director of Political Affairs Amitav Banerji, Director of Communications and Public Affairs Richard Uku and the Head of the Asia Division of Political Affairs Ms. Nishana Jayawickrama.

The Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin Vass Gunawardena, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs Mrs. Kshenuka Seneviratne and Director General of Europe and Americas of the Ministry of External Affairs Mrs. Himali Serasinghe were also present at the meeting.