ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s President Anura Dissanayake will not attend the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Samoa from 25–26 October, due to general elections in the island nation, Minister Vijitha Herath said.
This will be the 27th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The meeting is preceded by ministerial meetings, fora and side events from Monday (21), which Herath who is Foreign Minister, will also not be attending.
Sri Lanka’s current leaders are also skipping the BRICS summit in Russia, instead relying on Ministry officials to represent the country at significant global fora.
Narendra Modi, leader of neighbouring India and a founding member of BRICS, said on X (twitter) he was looking forward to meeting leaders there: “Leaving for Kazan, Russia, to take part in the BRICS Summit. India attaches immense importance to BRICS, and I look forward to extensive discussions on a wide range of subjects. I also look forward to meeting various leaders there.” (Colombo/Oct22/2024)