President Mahinda Rajapaksa may come face to face with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and British Prime Minister David Cameron at a Commonwealth meeting in New York.
Commonwealth Heads of Government or their Ministerial representatives are scheduled to meet at two open-ended meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government to be held in New York next week.
Among those expected to attend the meeting are Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Harper had boycotted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Sri Lanka last year over human rights concerns while Cameron had attended the Colombo meeting but raised concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.
The Commonwealth Secretariat said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office, will chair the two open-ended meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government on Thursday, 25 September at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
One meeting will look at CHOGM reforms while the other will look at the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The Heads of Government attending the meetings will have time to express their views on the two topics and other Commonwealth related issues under the “any other business” item.
Also taking place on the same day is the Thirteenth Meeting of Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers. External Affairs Minister, Professor G.L. Peiris will be attending the meeting. (Colombo Gazette)