Sri Lanka-France relations Sri Lanka-France relations
Historical links
Political relations between France and Sri Lanka date back to the seventeenth century and early French presence in the island was essentially military. A French naval fleet is said to have landed in the Bay of Kottiyar , near Trincomalee in March 1672, and a messenger, Mr Boisfontaine, had met King Rajasinghe II in the Court of Kandy. It is recorded that the King of Sri Lanka gifted Trincomalee harbour to France in 1672, and in 1778 the entire eastern seaboard, which included the harbours of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, was similarly gifted. King Rajasingha II is said to have had four French officers from the fleet of Admiral de la Haye, as Commanders in his own forces. History also refers to the exchange of several diplomatic missions between the two countries, including negotiations with a view to entering into a Treaty, between King Rajasingha and Captain Beauregard from France.
The first official presence of France in Sri Lanka in modern times was in 1859 when Paul Grimblot was sent to Colombo as Vice Consul.
Diplomatic relations
Until 1941, French interests in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon ) were represented by the General Consul living in Colombo . French consular matters were taken over by the American Consulate. The American authorities stopped representing France in November 1942 and the French Consulate reopened in 1945.
On 27 the October 1948, France became one of the first western countries to enter into formal diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka after the island regained independence on 4 February the same year. The French government was represented at Sri Lanka 's celebrations of independence by Mr. Henri Roux in the capacity of Special Envoy. The first Special Envoy and plenipotentiary Minister of France in Colombo , Mr. Lionel Pinoteau was appointed in December 1948, the same year that the French Consulate in Sri Lanka became a Legation. It was raised to the rank of Embassy in 1958.
In 1956, a resident diplomatic mission of Sri Lanka , which initially functioned as a Legation, was established in Paris and Sir Claude Corea was appointed Sri Lanka 's Special Envoy to the French Government. Sri Lanka 's Mission in France was opened by Deshamanya Dr. Vernon Mendis, who was among first batch of career diplomats. The Sri Lanka Mission in France was subsequently upgraded to the status of an Embassy with the appointment of an Ambassador with plenipotentiary powers.
Since the setting up of the Mission , a number of Bilateral Agreements on a diverse range of activities have been signed, including the first Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed by the United Front Government with the Government of France which came into effect on the 16 th of September 1970. The first France-Sri Lanka Financial Protocol was also signed in 1970 and has been annually renewed to date.
French assistance principally in the form of loans has been evenly concentrated on urban and rural development. Agreement for the Protection of Investment in the two countries were signed in 1980, followed by one for the Avoidance of Double Taxation in 1981.
It is important to note that several former Sri Lankan politicians have made high level visits to France , especially in 1996, 2000, 2001, October 2005 when a bilateral visit took place in France at the presidential level, and more recently at Foreign Minister level in March 2006 and September 2007.
Links between the two Parliaments have been established with the visit of Hon. Mr Joseph Michael Perera, speaker, in June 2002. A France-Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group was also created within the French National Assembly.
France was one of the first countries to come forward with assistance after the disastrous tsunami of December 2004 and sent to Sri Lanka its Foreign Minister of the time Hon. Michel Barnier and the then Health Minister Hon. Philippe Douste-Blazy at the head of a delegation of 22 people. France also sent 100 members of the medical profession with equipment, and a security team, many tons of emergency goods such as tents, blankets and water processing equipment, five planes with 36 tons of goods for humanitarian aid for a value of 781.036 US dollars. Cargo aircraft route was established to airlift medical equipment and relief items including two jeeps and water decontamination products.
During the visit to Paris of former Sri Lankan President Mrs Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 2005, Sri Lanka and France signed three agreements :
1. An agreement on credit terms for 64 million euros signed with the French Agency for Development (AFD) in the framework of the infrastructure project implemented in the region of Trincomalee (Trincomalee Integrated Infrastructure Programme, TIIP). This loan will be used to finance the rehabilitation and the rebuilding of infrastructures that were destroyed by the Tsunami in the district of Trincomalee. The projects implemented are divided up as follows: national roads (40.3 million euros), water supply (10.3 million euros), power supply (2.1 million euros) and community development (11.3 million euros). The credit of the AFD has been granted on concessional terms: interest rate of 1% per year, reimbursement over twenty years, together with a grace period of ten years. The acquisition of necessary equipment has been left free. Preliminary activities for the project have been completed.
2. An agreement on the postponement of Sri Lanka 's debt, up to 6,190,405.39 euros, was concluded with the Paris Club.
3. A Memorandum of Understanding on the project of water supply in the city of Trincomalee (Greater Trincomalee Integrated Water Supply Scheme) was signed for 10 million euros. The French government is granting 10 million euros in the framework of the Reserve Fund for Emerging Countries, which substituted the former French Financial Protocol. This credit was granted in order to rebuild and extend the water supply system in the district of Trincomalee following the tsunami.
Since diplomatic relations between the two countries were established, France has played a major role in the economic development of Sri Lanka, especially in infrastructure development. For example, France was involved in the first project of hydroelectric power station in Laxapana and Norton Bridge .
France offered its help through concessional credit. These loans are also used for urban and rural development on condition that most of the credits are used to purchase French tools and machines for infrastructure development projects.
Cultural relations
Sri Lanka maintained close cultural links with France . The Alliance française, an organization for the promotion of French language and culture, settled in Colombo in 1955 and today, in addition to Colombo , the institute has branches in Kandy , Matara and Jaffna as well.
Sri Lanka and France signed an Agreement on Cultural Cooperation in September 1970 to cooperate in the areas of literature, art, science, radio broadcasting, education, public health, physical health and sport.
Dr Lester James Peries considered the father of Sri Lankan cinema is well known to the French film connoisseur. In 1992, the French Republic made him Commander of Arts and Letters in their Legion of Honour. In 2000 he received the Medal of the City and the Golden Lotus for his contribution to Asian cinema at the Asian Film Festival of Deauville. He was awarded the UNESCO Fellini Gold Medal along with US film director Clint Eastwood during the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, “in honour of his distinguished career, which has inspired an entire generation of Sri-Lankan directors, and in recognition of his exceptional contribution to Sri Lankan cinema, laying the foundations for a veritable avant-garde cinema on the island.”
His film Wekande Walauwa (Mansion by the Lake) was selected out of competition for the 56th Cannes Film Festival in 2003, the fourth time a film of Dr Lester James Peries was recognised for the Cannes Film Festival, the others being REKAVA (1957), BADDEGAMA (1981), and KALIYUGAYA (1982).
In recognition of his great service to Cinema and for inspiring a whole generation of Sri Lankan filmmakers by laying the foundation for a serious national cinema and shaping artistic film culture in the island Dr Peries was invited to be a member of the official selection Jury (feature films) of the Cannes Film Festival in 1982.
REKAWA, his first film gained wide international critical acclaim, at prestigious film festivals like Edinburgh and Karlovy Vary and at Cannes . Georges Sadoul, the influential French film critic, called REKAWA "a model of poetry and honesty".
A short film Vide Pour l'Amour (Empty for Love) a production of young Sri Lankan film maker Vimukthi Jayasundara was also selected for the Cannes film festival in 2003 in the short film category. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, Vimukthi Jayasundera won the Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) awarded for the Best First Film for his film Sulanga Enu Pinisa (La Terre Abandonée) .
This year Vimukthi Jayasundara was awarded a grant for his next feature film “AHASIN WETEI” by the interministerial commission “Fonds sud cinéma ”
Sri Lanka participated in the 12 th International Festival of Military Music of Saumur held in June in 2007 in Saumur. This festival was organised under the patronage of French and foreign civil military authorities. Sri Lanka was represented by a 30-member band comprising the three armed services.
To mark the 2550 th Buddha Jayanthi - the Birth, the Enlightenment, and the Passing Away of Lord Buddha - “Vesak in Paris ” was held in June 2006 at the UNESCO Headquarters. Several eminent scholars on Buddhism were key speakers at the event.
May 2006 saw Sri Lanka being represented at the Carrefour International du Théâtre d'Enfants , a children's forum at which different countries come together to experience each other's art. The Sri Lankan children's performance in Valenciennes in the northern France directed by the famous Sri Lankan playwright and actress Somalatha Subhasinghe was very well received and appreciated by the audience.
The Embassy organised a Christmas Party in December 2006, for a raliya, an association of French parents who have adopted Sri Lankan children. This was an opportunity for the children who have been brought up in France , to savour a little of their roots.
A celebration of the Sinhala and Hindu New Year , the first of its kind, bringing the Sinhala and Tamil communities in France together was held in April 2007. The Embassy of Sri Lanka collaborated closely with the Chief Buddhist Temple in France to organise this funfilled event enjoyed by Sri Lankan and foreign alike as this brought the Sri Lankan festivities of the season to French soil.
Close to follow was the Sri Lanka Bazaar in May organised by the Embassy at the UNESCO headquarters, where Sri Lankan food and handicrafts were sold to collect money for the education of displaced children of the Eastern province of Sri Lanka . This brought a taste of Sri Lanka to the multinational and multicultural community at UNESCO.
In September 2007, a Sri Lanka cultural show titled Serendipity- an Evening of Sri Lankan Dance and Rhythm was organised in association with the Sri Lanka Tourist Board Office and Srilankan Airlines, at the UNESCO Headquarters with the world renowned Channa-Upuli Performing Arts Foundation of Sri Lanka. This was a manifestation of Sri Lanka 's diverse cultural heritage, encompassing the various moves and rhythms from all over the island.
Sri Lankan community in France
It is estimated that approximately 120,000 Sri Lankans currently live in France . A number of Sri Lankan Associations have been formed by Sri Lankans, which organise Sri Lankan festivals, cultural functions and sports events for the Sri Lankan community. A number of such Associations maintain close links with the Embassy:
he Embassy also works very closely with temples and other religious institutions in Paris in organising religious and cultural events. The Sinhala Tamil New Year celebration was one such event where the Embassy worked together with the Buddhist and Hindu temples in Paris, in organising a New Year celebration
Photos courtsey :
www.srilankatourism.org
www.photos-de-villes.com
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