Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena ruled out reports that he invited the military administration in Myanmar to take part in the BIMSTEC summit despite concerns over the legitimacy of the government.

A letter written by Gunawardena to the Foreign Minister of the military administration in Myanmar has sparked anti-Sri Lanka protests in the Asian country.

However, speaking to Asian Mirror, Gunawardena said he only attempted to connect the minister in question for a teleconference over the chairmanship of BIMSTEC.

Although Thailand is expected to chair the union this year, the ongoing pandemic has prevented the partner-countries from holding the conference. This has allowed Sri Lanka to continue as chair of BIMSTEC.

“During an oral discussion with the Foreign Ministers of the respective countries to hand over the chairmanship to Thailand, the Indian Minister of External Affairs informed me that he could join a teleconference on the evening of April 1.” Gunawardena said.

Accordingly, the Minister points out that this is simply a fulfillment of his responsibility to hand over the chairmanship of this organization to Thailand and that some elements carrying out false propaganda to discredit the government.

The current Secretary General of BIMSTEC is the Bhutanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gunawardena said.