10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Arun Hemachandra

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Trincomalee· 20 February 2025 ·Oral question: Oral Question: Foreign Employment and Worker Protection (Q.1/2025)

Foreign Affairs
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Hon. Arun Hemachandra said the problem arose because officials failed to renew an agreement before it lapsed, but action has been initiated and a solution is expected shortly. On the proposed agreement with Italy, he stated that discussions began in 2022, the main text is ready for signature, clarifications on Sri Lanka’s licence format changes and personal data exchange have been addressed, and the final equivalence table will be confirmed before signing.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, ordinarily, renewing an agreement before it lapses is straightforward. We observe that, due to irregularities and failures by certain officials to renew it on time, this problem arose. We have now initiated action and are confident of a satisfactory solution shortly.

¶ 02 Regarding the Italian draft: discussions began in 2022; main text is agreed and ready for signature; the Italian side requested clarifications due to Sri Lanka’s licence format changes and on personal data exchange; our Embassy has responded and now indicates the Italian side requires no further clarifications; the final equivalence table will be sent here for confirmation, after which the agreement can be signed at an early date.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Thursday, 20 February 2025 ·No. 1740657427093848 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Arun Hemachandra. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 February 2025. No. 1740657427093848. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/16364