PEACE CORPS PROGRAMME RE-ESTABLISHED
US, SL mark 70 years of diplomatic ties
Sri Lanka and the US signed a bilateral agreement to re-establish the Peace Corps Programme in Sri Lanka on Monday (26) to mark the 70th year of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and US Ambassador in Sri Lanka and Maldives Atul Keshap were the chief guests on the occasion.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka gladly welcomes the US Peace Corps Programme which also includes an English course. “I took the initiative to improve the English skills of our school-going children when I was the Education Minister as I saw that it was an urgent need in schools. Accordingly, the US Peace Corps, which will be involved in teaching English to schoolchildren, is most welcome here,” he said.
The Prime Minister remarked that we as a nation were looking forward to further improving our diplomatic ties with the US and hoped that the diplomatic relationship between the two countries would last another 70 years at least.
Mr Keshap for his part stressed that both countries should understand their responsibilities in the common goal of world development. “Our Peace Corps is not designed as an instrument of diplomacy or propaganda for ideological conflict. It is designed to allow the people to exercise their talents for the great common good,” Mr Keshap said. More than 370 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Sri Lanka from 1962 to 1998, working in education, health and youth development. The programme was stopped in 1998 due to political instability.