New European envoys call on President

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Three new European envoys accredited to Sri Lanka presented their credentials to President Maithripala Sirisena at the President’s House in Colombo today (August 19). The envoys who presented credentials were High Commissioner of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Sarah Hulton, Trine Eskedel, Ambassador of Kingdom of Norway, and Tanja Gonggrijp, Ambassador of Netherlands. The three envoys conveyed the best wishes of their respective government to President Sirisena and emphasized they would endeavour to further strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation during their tenure in Sri Lanka. Addressing the new envoys, the President said that all three countries represented by the new envoys have excellent and longstanding relations with Sri Lanka. The British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton on twitter said, "I'm looking forward to further strengthening the bilateral relationship between our two countries with the support of my colleagues" While presenting her credentials, Ambassador Eskedal highlighted said that Norway’s partnership with Sri Lanka “consists of shared democratic values and interests, as we are both strong supporters of multilateral cooperation, human rights, rules-based world order, and a strong United Nations.” The High Commissioner of Netherlands in her message to the President said, “ Sri Lanka and the Netherlands have enjoyed a long history of friendship.