President Ranil Wickremesinghe with several heads of state.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe commended President Yoweri Museveni for assuming leadership at the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Kampala, Uganda.
“Let me begin by congratulating you, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, for taking over the helm of the Non Aligned Movement at this 19th Summit. Your leadership is even more timely as Uganda assumes this role at a critical moment of collective awareness among countries of the global South. This is the first NAM Summit following the onset of the pandemic, the debt crisis, climate catastrophe, new global competition, and the ensuing multiple implications for the world, particularly, for the Global South.
As we meet today, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip and beyond. For over three months, immense suffering and losses have been endured by the Palestinian civilian population, endangering regional security and stability. Until now, the NAM was largely silent. How can we remain silent when Gaza is destroyed? People were denied humanitarian aid and a vast majority of the dead were innocent civilians. Silence implies consent. It is encouraging that this 19th Summit has given the highest priority to this crisis in Gaza and the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine to self-determination and the realization of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. We must congratulate South Africa for its bold stand regarding Gaza. The international community has already called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of hostages.
There cannot be a two-state solution based on one state – Israel. No resolution is possible without a state of Palestine. Therefore, in line with multiple UN Resolutions and the Declaration of this Summit, the international community must recognize the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as territories coming within the State of Palestine, and in addition, there should be no change in the ethnic composition of Gaza. Sri Lanka also proposes that the State of Palestine be established within five years and no more.
We are now witnessing the end of the post-Cold War order and the coming into being of the evolving multipolar world. We are seeing a resurgence of latent and open conflicts involving former and aspiring significant powers on the geopolitical front. In Europe, the transatlantic military alliance has been strengthened, past arms control agreements have collapsed, military expenditure has reached historically unprecedented levels, and nuclear weapons are once again the subject of apparently serious policy discussion. Outer space and the oceans have become potential theatres of conflict and geo-strategic competition, including in our vicinity in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Free trade and economic integration are being reversed by the policy-driven rise of trade protectionism due to strategic competition among major powers.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe commended President Yoweri Museveni for assuming leadership at the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Kampala, Uganda.
“Let me begin by congratulating you, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, for taking over the helm of the Non Aligned Movement at this 19th Summit. Your leadership is even more timely as Uganda assumes this role at a critical moment of collective awareness among countries of the global South. This is the first NAM Summit following the onset of the pandemic, the debt crisis, climate catastrophe, new global competition, and the ensuing multiple implications for the world, particularly, for the Global South.
As we meet today, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip and beyond. For over three months, immense suffering and losses have been endured by the Palestinian civilian population, endangering regional security and stability. Until now, the NAM was largely silent. How can we remain silent when Gaza is destroyed? People were denied humanitarian aid and a vast majority of the dead were innocent civilians. Silence implies consent. It is encouraging that this 19th Summit has given the highest priority to this crisis in Gaza and the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine to self-determination and the realization of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. We must congratulate South Africa for its bold stand regarding Gaza. The international community has already called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the release of hostages.
There cannot be a two-state solution based on one state – Israel. No resolution is possible without a state of Palestine. Therefore, in line with multiple UN Resolutions and the Declaration of this Summit, the international community must recognize the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as territories coming within the State of Palestine, and in addition, there should be no change in the ethnic composition of Gaza. Sri Lanka also proposes that the State of Palestine be established within five years and no more.
We are now witnessing the end of the post-Cold War order and the coming into being of the evolving multipolar world. We are seeing a resurgence of latent and open conflicts involving former and aspiring significant powers on the geopolitical front. In Europe, the transatlantic military alliance has been strengthened, past arms control agreements have collapsed, military expenditure has reached historically unprecedented levels, and nuclear weapons are once again the subject of apparently serious policy discussion. Outer space and the oceans have become potential theatres of conflict and geo-strategic competition, including in our vicinity in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Free trade and economic integration are being reversed by the policy-driven rise of trade protectionism due to strategic competition among major powers.
At the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Kampala, Uganda.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
