President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrives in Paris to address the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact

  The President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, arrived in Paris on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. at the invitation of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, to address the World Leader’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact on June 22–23 The summit endeavours to garner cross-regional consensus among the international community to build a more inclusive, more equitable international financial architecture with strong deliverables. President Wickremesinghe will speak at the Summit on Sri Lanka’s experience as a middle-income country.country and the challenges faced in dealing with international financial institutions with asevere economic crisis. Sri Lanka’s experience is considered to be of particular relevance to theoutcome of the Summit, especially in the context of the country’s recent success in debtdiscussions with the IMF and progressing on the path to economic stability and recovery. The other leaders of the round table speaking under this particular theme are the President of Tunisia and Kas Saied, Prime Minister of Rwanda; Edouard Ngirente, Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva, President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina,and the former President of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Deby.  Heads of State and Heads of Government of countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America is scheduled to participate in the summit, in addition to heads of international organisations, multilateral financial institutions, and other key stakeholders. The French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chinese Premier Li Qiang,and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and the President of Brazil Lula da Silva, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and the President of Kenya, William Ruto is among the world leaders scheduled to speak at the summit. President Wickremesinghe is also due to meet several Heads of Government and Heads of Multilateral Institutions on the sidelines of the Summit to discuss issues of relevance. The The President and the First Lady, Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe, will also attend an official dinner. hosted by President Macron for Heads of State and Government participating in the Summit, at the Elysee on June 22. The First Lady Wickramasinghe is also scheduled to participate in an event hosted by the First Lady of the French Republic, Brigitte Macron, on June 23, 2023.