Thursday
18th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
President Nasheed and Ranil
The Government of Sri Lanka dismissed reports of the Sri Lankan government funding the Parliament Speaker and former President of the Maldives, President Mohamed Nasheed’s attendance at the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27), being hosted in Egypt by the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Nasheed set out to attend the UN’s environment and climate summit held from November 4th to 9th, on Friday.
In a press release, the parliament stated that President Nasheed will attend the 2022 COP 27 as a member of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’s national delegation, to represent Sri Lanka.
The Director of External Affairs for the Government of Sri Lanka, Dinouk Colombage stated that Sri Lanka is not funding President Nasheed's visit to Egypt for COP27, contrary to various online reports. He said that Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe had appointed President Nasheed as his honorary International Climate Advisor.
TMJ has learned that while Nasheed’s visit has not been financed by the Sri Lankan government, it was not funded by the parliament either.
The Parliament House Spokesperson told TMJ that Nasheed’s travels had been funded by the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF)’s Environmental Foundation.
The Maldives is being represented by Vice President Faisal Naseem at the COP 27 summit.
While President Nasheed flew off to represent Sri Lanka at an international conference, he had also assisted the Sri Lankan government in acquiring foreign aid during its, recent, time of economic distress.