By Saman Indrajith
Sri Lanka had managed to thwart an attempt by various international agencies, driven by geostrategic motives, to alter Sri Lanka’s Vessel Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), as Foreign Minister Ali Sabry informed Parliament on Thursday (07).
The TSS, positioned south of Dondra Head, stands as a crucial trade route and one of the world’s busiest maritime trade corridors. Minister Sabry emphasized that any changes to this scheme would have undermined the significance of Galle and Hambantota Ports.
“We collaborated with China, Egypt, Algeria, India, and Pakistan to defeat this proposal. We successfully removed it from the agenda of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Only Canada opposed us, driven by political reasons. The support we receive from the Global South reflects our commitment to the right path,” he stated.
Minister Sabry highlighted Sri Lanka’s primary challenge: to refrain from being perceived as aligned with any single power.He further noted the operational constraints within the Foreign Ministry, citing the recent diplomatic tension between India and Canada, revealing that the Indian High Commission in Canada maintains a staff of over 70.
“Yet, across 55 countries and within Sri Lanka, our staff totals 168. While India remains crucial, we have merely six personnel there. Our sanctioned workforce is 264, and we haven’t recruited since 2018. We’ve now initiated a recruitment campaign and need an ongoing mechanism for yearly hires. We strive to make the most of our resources,” he emphasized.
In 2020, the Ministry was inundated with requests to authenticate 125,000 documents from Sri Lankans seeking to depart the country.
“We allocated 100 million rupees for this service. By 2022, we authenticated 527,000 documents, generating 400 million rupees in revenue, all accomplished with the same staff,” Minister Sabry added.
He also highlighted the implementation of a digital mechanism in 2022, eradicating the long-standing queues at the Foreign Ministry. Now, individuals can upload educational documents online for authentication without the need for physical visits. “This achievement owes credit to our officials and my State Minister,” he acknowledged.
Additionally, Minister Sabry addressed concerns about the arrival of Chinese research vessels. “To allay these concerns, we’ve formulated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), approved by the Cabinet and distributed to countries that have sent ships over the past decade. A structured mechanism is now in place,” he assured.
Following the speech, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Harsha de Silva attributed the establishment of the Extension of Electronic Document Attestation System (e-DAS) to the previous government in 2018. Therefore, credit for instituting the online document certification system must be given to those who introduced e-DAS, he remarked.
State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya acknowledged that the e-DAS system was indeed initiated by the previous government. Their contribution lay in integrating several relevant institutions into the system.
