A diplomatic reception to celebrate the 66th Anniversary of the National Day of Sri Lanka was held in the evening of the 9th of February at the Official residence of the Ambassador amidst a large gathering of Ambassadors, senior Officials from UN Agencies based in Israel, guests from the Knesset, the Foreign Office, members from the academia, representatives of travel and trade chambers and prominent Sri Lankans in Israel.
Honouring the reception with his presence was Hon. Eli Ben Dahan, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs who was the representative from the Israeli government. The Hon. Deputy Minister in his remarks to the gathering stated that he was pleased to attend the occasion especially since Sri Lanka was celebrating 66 years of Statehood.
Ambassador Sarath Wijesinghe spoke at length on Sri Lanka’s steady progress towards economic development and reconciliation efforts and encouraged everyone to visit Sri Lanka to see the potential of the country. He also expressed the hope that the constructive partnership between Sri Lanka and Israel would see more people to people exchanges especially in the aftermath of the historic visit to Israel by His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, which was the first ever visit to Israel by a Sri Lankan Head of State.
It was in this spirit of celebration that Ambassador Wijesinghe also highlighted the many accomplishments achieved by the Visit of the President and the various highlights in the bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and Israel since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
After the official segment of the event concluded, guests were treated to authentic Sri Lankan cuisine.