In a press conference held this morning, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe , an SLFP stalwart said it was a privilege that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena had the opportunity to address the UN General Assembly, on the same day US President Donald Trump addressed the session.
The Minister portrayed this as an example for the global recognition and attention, drawn by the Sri Lankan government over the past two years.
It seems like there is an attempt, on the part of the SLFP, to misrepresent facts, in order to boost the image of the leaders of the government.
Therefore, it is important to understand how the speakers are selected to address the UNGA and their order is made.
that the opportunity to address the UN General Assembly on the first day, had little do with Sri Lanka’s ‘new found’ global recognition.
“Except for the Brazil and the US (the host nation to the YN General Assembly), For all other Member States, the speaking order is based on the level of representation, preference and other criteria such as geographic balance,” the official UN website said.
In a recent article, Quartz said, “In practice, that means that if your head of state doesn’t come, you get shunted behind all the ones that do. But what if you’re the head of government (like Britain’s prime minister or Germany’s chancellor) and your country’s head of state is a monarch or some other figurehead? Sorry—also to the back of the line. Foreign ministers or other deputy ministers tend to come last.”
Sri Lanka was able to address the General Assembly on the opening day as the country was represented by President Maithripala Sirisena, the head of state of state and the leader of the government.
For instance, India, the regional giant was represented at the UNGA this year, by its External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. As she was not the head of state, she was invited to address the session, a day after the Sri Lankan President made his speech.
It does not mean that Sri Lanka got preference over India at the world’s prime international summit.
