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Official Visit of Senate President Milan Stech to Sri Lanka
01.10.2018 / 08:52
The President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milan Stech paid a two-days official visit to Sri Lanka on September 20 & 21, 2018. This visit was the highest level ever made since the Czech Republic has been established. The visit was subsequent to the official visit of the Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Czech Republic in May 2018.
President of Senate Milan Stech with a spouse was accompanied by the Czech Senators Tomas Grulich, Ludek Jenista, Hassan Mezian, Lumir Kantor and Radko Martinek, and also by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Sri Lanka residing in New Delhi Milan Hovorka.
President of Senate Milan Stech with his delegation called on the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe. They discussed possibilities of deepening mutual relationships in various areas.
The longest meeting was held with his counterpart, the Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament Karu Jayasuriya.
The Czech delegation also met with members of the Association of Sri Lanka – Czech Republic Parliamentary Friendship, led by the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and Chairman of Committees J. M. Ananda Kumarasiri. Czech Senators had then the opportunity to visit the new Sri Lanka Parliament building and visit the plenary session.
President of Senate Milan Stech alongwith the Sri Lankan Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama and other important guests inaugurated the Sri Lanka – Czech Business Forum organized on Friday 21st October 2018 in the capital of Sri Lanka Colombo, to support the development of trade cooperation between the private sectors of both countries. Parts of the forum were also B2B meetings between the representatives of Czech and Sri Lankan companies.
During the inaugural session of the business forum the Vice-president of the Czech Chamber of Commerce Michal Stefl and Chairman of the Board of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Rajendra Theagarajah signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
On the occasion of the official visit of the President of Senate with Czech parliamentary as well ad business delegationa, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi and the Honorary Consulate of the Czech Republic in Colombo jointly organized a Reception, attended by many important guests, among others the Ambassador of the European Union to Sri Lanka Tun Lai Margue and representatives of Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The President of Senate Milan Stech summarized in his speech the significant milestones of the modern Czech history and reminded the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia and other anniversaries.
Subsequently, he handed over an Honourable Mention to the 14 years old Malinka Sehansi Samarasinha for her drawing nominated as a competitive work to the 46th International Children's Exhibition of Fine Art LIDICE 2018 with the theme "Water above Gold". During the ceremony, it was recalled that this exhibition was established to commemorate the child victims from the Czech village of Lidice murdered by German Nazis, as well as all other children who have died in war conflicts. This year Lidice Gallery received 29,967 works from 79 countries. The ceremony was concluded by Malinka's mother Dharsha Samarasinha in her vote of thanks.