Ambassador Walpita Gamage Prasanna's presentation focused on Sri Lanka's foreign policy, its key characteristics, advantages, and challenges in implementing it.
Ambassador Walpita Gamage Prasanna
Sri Lanka is geographically situated almost in the center of the Indian Ocean, with a coastline stretching 1,340 km. It interacts with and is influenced by surrounding countries and continents such as India to the north, Africa to the west, and Southeast Asia to the east. This geographical location has made the country a crossroads of economic, commercial, cultural, and religious activities, both historically and currently, between East and West. Its political system is parliamentary and multi-party democracy, influenced by the United Kingdom and its neighbor, India.
To harmonize relations with many countries surrounding the Indian Ocean, including major powers, Sri Lanka has maintained a relatively neutral, politically non-aligned foreign policy throughout the Cold War and to this day. Its foreign policy is based on three pillars: national sovereignty, national security, and economic development; the economic development aspect is supported by economic diplomacy, lobbying international financial institutions for loans to support development.
View of the auditorium
However, in pursuing its economic-oriented foreign policy, Sri Lanka has also faced numerous challenges, with balancing relations between India, China, and the West being the greatest international challenge. The Sri Lankan government has skillfully navigated to leverage positive aspects, mitigate conflicts, and capitalize on economic benefits while minimizing clashes with all parties. Like other Non-Aligned Movement nations, a key aspect of Sri Lanka's foreign policy is balancing interactions and avoiding being drawn into the power struggles between major powers.
Nguyen My Dieu (International Relations major - Faculty of International Studies), representing the students, presented flowers to Ambassador Walpita Gamage Prasanna.
For Southeast Asian nations, Sri Lanka advocates contributing to stable and peaceful development in the region through multilateral institutions such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARS), the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Regional Economic and Technical Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Treaty of Friendship (ACD), and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Sri Lanka aspires to contribute to regional stability and peace and emphasizes trade development to strengthen linkages among nations.
Professor Pham Quang Minh presents a gift to Ambassador Walpita Gamage Prasanna.
For Vietnam, Sri Lanka maintains a traditional, friendly relationship, especially as the two countries recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (July 21, 1971). Over the past 50 years, the two countries have witnessed 53 high-level visits between leaders; President Ho Chi Minh visited Sri Lanka three times in 1911, 1928, and 1946. Bilateral trade reached nearly US$301 million this year and aims to reach US$1 billion in the future. Currently, Sri Lanka has 14 investment projects in Vietnam, mainly in the textile and garment sector, and Sri Lankan companies create jobs for approximately 9,000 Vietnamese workers. In the future, Sri Lanka hopes to promote cooperation in education and culture with Vietnam. Ambassador Walpita Gamage emphasized the role of the younger generation, especially those born after 2000, in the future of bilateral relations.
Ambassador Walpita Gamage Prasanna poses for a photo with students from the school.
During the presentation, Ambassador Walpita Gamage Prasanna received questions from students about issues such as the decision-making process on foreign policy in the Sri Lankan government, how Sri Lanka balances its relations with major powers; the situation of foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka; plans to promote student exchange between Vietnam and Sri Lanka; and the situation of cooperation in textile trade between the two countries…
