Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing Wimal Weerawansa said that the opposition's claims on Dr. Chris Nonis was testament to the fact that the government had appointed suitable people for foreign service.
"They say Dr. Nonis is an excellent diplomat. What does this indicate? This means the government has appointed excellent people to the foreign service to represent Sri Lanka in the international domain. This contracts the earlier criticism of the opposition on Sri Lanka's foreign service," the Minister said in a tongue-in-cheek tone yesterday addressing a public meeting that took place to mark the handing over of Abdul Hameed Apartments at Hulftsdorf, Colombo 12.
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However, the Minister refrained from commenting on the incident involving UPFA Parliamentarian Sajin Vaas Gunawardena and Dr. Chris Nonis who was formerly the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Nonis resigned from his position after he was allegedly assaulted by the UPFA Parliamentarian at a private party in New York two weeks ago.
Weerawansa also stated that the international community, especially the west, would not be able to surrender Sri Lanka using various strong-arm tactics. He added that Sri Lanka would not be affected by strong-arm tactics and conspiracies of the west.
He reminded that when the EU ] cut the quota on exports of finished garments The UNP warned that the garment industry would fall. "However," the Minister said," since the Sri Lankan garments were of high quality, they could compete with other countries and the industry did not fall as predicted, Weerawansa said.
His comments come in a backdrop when the EU has enforced a ban on fishing exports from Sri Lanka.
