News
President Biden appoints Dr. Mendis to US National Security Education Board
President Joe Biden has appointed Dr. Patrick Mendis—a Sri Lanka-born American diplomat—as an advisor to the prestigious U.S. National Security Education Board (NSEB), according to a press release by the White House.
The 14-member National Security Education Board consists of eight Cabinet secretaries including defence, education, energy, homeland security, state, and the director of National Intelligence as well as six distinguished American citizens of global prominence. The Board is chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Defence.
Dr. Patrick Mendis, a Harvard and Minnesota educated former military professor at NATO and the Indo-Pacific Command, is currently a distinguished visiting professor of transatlantic relations at the University of Warsaw and the inaugural Taiwan chair and distinguished visiting professor of international relations at the Jagiellonian University—famously known as the university of the Pope John Paul II and Nicolaus Copernicus—in Krakow, Poland. Prior to this, he served as a Taiwan fellow of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a distinguished visiting professor of global affairs at the National Chengchi University in Taipei and a distinguished visiting professor of Sino-American relations at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in China.
The presidential appointment of Dr. Mendis is a great honour not only for the renowned international relations scholar and the former U.S. diplomat in the Clinton, Bush, Obama administrations, but also for the United States, Poland, and Taiwan in their critical engagement in world affairs and global security.
Supporting her former constituent while teaching at the University of Minnesota, Rep. Betty McCollum, the top Democrat in the House Appropriations Defence Subcommittee in U.S. Congress wrote to the White House that “Patrick’s vast experience at a senior level in US government service and academia” is an asset to the Biden-Harris administration.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota also endorsed his candidacy to the Biden White House, writing that “Dr. Mendis is a respected leader and award-winning public servant, teacher, and diplomat.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen described his friend and former professor of the University of Maryland: “Patrick has contributed years of dedicated service to our country and has been recognized for his academic achievement, outstanding government career, and important philanthropic work.”
His former colleague and friend in the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff during the Reagan administration, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, characterized Dr. Patrick Mendis as a “highly respected foreign policy scholar, an award-winning public servant, and American diplomat.”
Recommending him to the White House, Sen. Tim Kaine wrote that the former distinguished senior fellow and affiliate professor at George Mason University in Virginia “has all the attributes and skills needed to thrive in these national security and foreign affairs positions. He consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic, leadership, and personal integrity.”
Having these recommendations by congressional leaders and two former Deputy Secretaries of State – Amb. Brian Atwood and Amb. Thomas Nides – the White House concluded that Dr. Patrick Mendis, a former commissioner to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO at the State Department, has “many talents and experience,” which “will be of great service to the Board, and by extension, the American people.”
A discussion to review the progress of the housing project under which 4,700 houses are being constructed for the Malayagam community with Indian assistance was held this afternoon (24) at the Presidential Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to the President, Prabath Chandrakeerthi.
Under this housing programme, 2,026 houses are to be provided to families identified by the National Building Research Institute (NBRI) as being at disaster risk. The remaining houses are expected to be allocated to eligible workers residing in the plantation sector.
Accordingly, the houses will be provided to Malayagam community families living on estates belonging to 22 Regional Plantation Companies, as well as estates under the State Plantations Corporation, Janawasama and Elkaduwa Plantations.
For the construction of each house, the Government of India has allocated Rs. 2.8 million, while the Government of Sri Lanka has contributed Rs. 400,000.
During the discussion, Chandrakeerthi instructed officials to ensure that the housing project is completed before the end of this year. He further directed that land identified for the construction of houses be released without delay and that the National Building Research Institute provide the necessary reports to identify suitable land for the project.
The housing project is being implemented jointly by the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, the National Housing Development Authority, the State Engineering Corporation and the Plantation Human Development Trust.
Among those present were Additional Secretary (Development) of the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, K. S. Wijayakeerthi; Director General (Engineering), N. D. N. Pushpakumara; Director General (Planning), W. A. K. S. Damayanthi; the Secretary General of the Planters’ Association; and officials from the National Housing Development Authority, the State Engineering Corporation, relevant institutions and plantation companies.
(PMD)
It has been reported that Attorney at Law Rakitha Rajapakshe, the son of former Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, has been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) over alleged links with the underworld.
… alleges NPP trying to implement UPFA, UNP plan
Front-line Socialist Party (FSP) yesterday (24) alleged that the NPP government’s move to amalgamate the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) and the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), under a unified, tripartite governance framework, would be detrimental to the private sector workers.
Addressing the media at Melder Place, Nugegoda, FSP spokesman Duminda Nagamuwa said that the Cabinet of Ministers approved this proposal on 15 June.
Nagamuwa claimed that the NPP was trying to implement what President Mahinda Rajapaksa had sought to do, in 2011, causing the police to open fire on a group of the Export Processing Zone workers, protesting against the move to create a private pension scheme. A worker, identified as Roshen Chanaka, was shot by police on May 30, 2011, and he succumbed to his injuries.
Pointing out that the EPF and the ETF had been established for the benefit of private sector workers but with different objectives, Nagamuwa warned that amalgamation of the two funds could cause unnecessary complications.
The FSP spokesman said that Ravi Karunanayake, in his capacity as the Finance Minister of the Yahapalana government, in late November 2015 had declared their intention to amalgamate the ETF with the EPF.
FSP’s Pubudu Jayagoda told The Island that they expected all political parties, other than the NPP, to disclose their stand on the vital issue. Jayagoda urged the Opposition to take a stand on the vital issue .
By Shamindra Ferdinando
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