Colombo/Male – IOM Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Sarah Lou Ysmael Arriola, recently concluded her first official visit to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Accompanied by Sarat Dash, IOM Chief of Mission for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, RD Arriola met with senior Ministers and officials from both Governments during her visit, fostering further cooperation between the two countries and IOM.     

In Sri Lanka, during her meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ali Sabry, and the State Minister of Foreign Affairs, she commended the efforts taken by the new Government under President Ranil Wickramasinghe’s leadership to stabilize the country and in securing the IMF bailout package.   

“The IOM Headquarters would like to extend an invitation to President Wickramasinghe to speak at the forthcoming IOM council meeting, acknowledging Sri Lanka’s interest in advancing the climate change agenda. We also look forward to exploring the possibility for the Government of Sri Lanka to co-sponsor along with the Philippines a high-level dialogue in September after the Climate Ambition Summit in New York, with the support of IOM,” stated the Regional Director.  

RD Arriola also met with the Ministers of Labour and Foreign Employment; Environment and the Health, discussing migration-related developments and concerns in these respective sectors. Additionally, the meetings shed light on the urgency to integrate human mobility into the climate change discourse, the importance of the Colombo Process and the need for better employment conditions for migrant workers and the status of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) implementation in the country. The impact of the outmigration of the health workers on the national health delivery system was discussed, and it was agreed to initiate an evidence-based dialogue at the national and regional level in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

In her meeting with the Secretary to the Ministry of Women, Children Affairs and Social Empowerment, the RD reiterated IOM's commitment to the Women, Peace and Security action plan of the country. She also had the opportunity to meet the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, who is also the Chairman of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. Addressing the task force members, RD Arriola noted that the rates of prosecution should be increased, whilst publicity for trafficking-related activities is essential to create awareness and for image building of the country.  

The RD also attended the closing ceremony of the “Socio-economic reintegration of Sri Lankan Migrant Workers Repatriated due to the Covid -19 outbreak,” which brought multiple project stakeholders together, including the implementing partner - International Labour Organization (ILO) Sri Lanka, the Government entities and the beneficiaries. The event included an exhibition corridor, which showcased the varying products of project beneficiaries from across the country.  

As her last official engagement in Sri Lanka, RD, along with Mr. Dash, attended the inauguration of the “GLOCAL Fair 2023,” a large-scale employment services facility organised by the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment in Jaffna, where the Integrated Guidance Referral System (IGRS), developed on the request of Government of Sri Lanka to support aspiring migrant workers, was launched.  

The event attracted a large public and stakeholder participation, which provided an optimum platform for IOM to reiterate the Organization’s commitments for the Government and the people of Sri Lanka.   

In the Maldives, the RD met with the State Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Economic Development, the Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology and the Minister of Health. 

The discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs centred on the “climate vulnerabilities and the climate ambition summit.” Meanwhile, the talks with the state representatives provided an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of both Government of Maldives and IOM in continuing and expanding the collaborations in the fields of climate change, border management, labour migration and in the implementation of the GCM in the Maldives.  

RD Arriola appreciated the active role played by the Maldives in the Climate Vulnerability Forum and explored the possibility of the Maldives joining the climate ambition summit discussions that will take place in September 2023. She also had the opportunity to meet IOM’s development partners and the UN Resident Coordinator during the two-day visit, discussing the possibilities of strengthening the multilateral corporations.  

The visit to the two countries concluded strengthening the partnerships and reaffirming IOM’s commitments to the Governments and their people. RD expressed her sincere appreciation for the professionalism of the staff and lauded them to continue their efforts to promote safe, orderly and regular migration in the region.  

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For more information, please contact Parami Fernando, Information and Communications Coordinator, IOM Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, at pafernando@iom.int or +94 77 122 0053