The Armed Forces Remembrance and Poppy flower celebration Day commemoration ceremony was held on 16th of November 2025 at the Cenotaph War Memorial at Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo, under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.
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The Cenotaph War Memorial has been built in memory of war heroes from Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) who were killed in action during World War I and World War II.

It was designed by the architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens.
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This monument is one of the oldest and most significant war memorials in Sri Lanka, and the national commemoration ceremony is held here annually on Remembrance Day (the Sunday closest to November 11).

During the event, the Prime Minister laid a wreath of poppies at the War Heroes’ Memorial and paid floral tributes in remembrance of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives.

The main purpose of this annual commemoration was to honour and remember all war heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the protection of the motherland from the period of the First World War to the present and to recognize their noble cause.

Poppy Day has been commemorated in Great Britain since 1919 to remember the members of the armed forces who died in the First World War, with the poppy becoming the main symbol of remembrance.

The poem “In Flanders Fields”, written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae after witnessing the poppies that had grown on the graves of fallen soldiers on a battlefield in Belgium, played a significant role in establishing the poppy as an eternal symbol of remembrance.

Later, Ms. Moina Michael, who served as a secretary at the American Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), further strengthened the significance of the poppy by initiating the sale of poppies and directing the proceeds towards the welfare of the families of war heroes.

The Poppy Day commemoration in Sri Lanka was organized in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association and the Armed Forces.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Defence Major General (Retired) Aruna Jayasekara, Secretary of Defence Ministry Air Vice Marshal (Retired) Sampath Thuyacontha, Tri-Forces Commanders, retired Tri-Forces Commanders, foreign diplomats, as well as the Chairman, Secretary, and a large number of members of the Sri Lanka Ex-Servicemen’s Association.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

A one-and-a-half year delay in completing the East Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port has caused massive losses, with the Chinese contractor demanding a staggering Rs 4,227 mn in compensation.

According to a statement issued by M. Jayalath Perera, Director Legislative Services / Director Communication (Acting), Parliament of Sri Lanka, the Cabinet approved the contract, worth Rs. 40,272 mn, in November, 2021, and the relevant agreements signed in the following month.

The project, which was scheduled to be completed by the first week of January 2025, is now due for completion in July, 2026.

The issue transpired at a recent meeting of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), chaired by Dr. Nishantha Samaraweera, to discuss the Auditor General’s Reports for the years 2022 and 2023 and the current performance of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).

However, the Parliament refrained from naming the contractor and mentioning specific reasons for the delay.

Pointing out that due to the 548-day delay the contractor has claimed Rs. 4,227 million as compensation, Dr. Samaraweera called for a comprehensive report, containing all relevant particulars, to be submitted to the Committee. The COPE examined the performance of SLPA on 10 September and 13 November.

COPE members Dayasiri Jayasekara, S.M. Marikkar, Sujeewa Senasinghe, MKM Aslam, (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam, (Dr.) S. Sri Bavanandarajah, Lieutenant Commander (Rtd.) Prageeth Madhuranga, Thilina Samarakoon, Samanmali Gunasingha, Sunil Rajapaksha, Chandima Hettiarachchi, and Dinesh Hemanta participated in the meeting held on 13 November.

State-run China Harbour Engineering Company secured the contract, in late 2021, from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, after continuous protests backed by port unions affiliated to the SLPP, the UNP and the JVP/NPP against a tripartite agreement involving India, Japan and Sri Lanka to develop the port.

Sources pointed out that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government tried to go ahead with a “memorandum of cooperation” (MoC) signed with India and Japan to develop the ECT, located just next to the USD 500 million Chinese-run Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT). (SF)

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has disregarded recommendations made by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), in 2023, to reduce funds allocated to provide food for the SLPA employees.

This transpired when the top SLPA management appeared before COPE to facilitate the examination of the Auditor General’s Reports for the years 2022 and 2023 and the current performance of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

Responding to concerns raised by the COPE, the SLPA management claimed that measures have now been taken to reduce expenses and that a competitive tender procedure has been introduced to minimize costs.