On 24th September 2004, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister of Foreign Affairs deposited the Instruments of Ratification of Sri Lanka to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Asian Highway Network, during the annual treaty event of the United Nations in New York.
By becoming a party to the CCW, Sri Lanka has agreed to be bound by the Amended Protocol II on mines, booby traps and other devices, Protocol III on Incendiary Weapons and Protocol IV on Binding Laser Weapons.
Sri Lanka accession to the CCW is a reiteration of its unwavering commitment towards the further promotion of humanitarian law and its continued constructive engagement with the international community on the issue of landmines. Furthermore, the Government expects that Sri Lanka’s accession to this Convention would further the protection being provided to the civilian population as well as to the United Nations, ICRC and other humanitarian missions operating in the conflict-affected areas from the effects of landmines.
During the above treaty event, Minister of Foreign Affairs also deposited the Instrument of Ratification of Sri Lanka to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Asian Highway Network.
As a cornerstone of the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, the Asian Highway Network (AHN) was one of the important initiatives of the Economic and Social Commission of the United Nations for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Thirty-one member countries, including Sri Lanka actively participated in identifying and developing highway routes of international importance. As a result, more than 140,000 kilometres of highway across the whole of Asia have been defined through various studies and expert group meetings.
The Asian Highway Network consists of highway routes of international importance within Asia, including highway routes substantially crossing more than one cub-region, highway routes within sub-regions including those connecting neighbouring sub-regions, and highway routes located within member states.
Sub Regional Route A-43 of the Asian Highway Network connects Sri Lanka’s internal roads network to priority Asian Highway route A-1 from Turkey to Vietnam, via Agra in the Indian sub continent. The section of this sub regional route A-43 passes through Anuradhapura and Colombo and ends at Matara.
There is no doubt that Sri Lanka will be immensely benefited by this agreement in the development of its internal Asian Highway Routes to a higher standard and to achieve its goal towards a better land transport system linked to the International Land Transport Network.
Such a land transport system will have an enormous impact on the development of the international business and tourist industry and will also induce substantial investment inflows and technology transfers within the country.
The conclusion of this Agreement is of particular significance at the present stage of economic development of Sri Lanka since it is believed that the Agreement will greatly facilitate the acceleration of the pace of industrialization and overall economic growth. The conclusion of the Agreement is also a significant step in the enhancement of relations between the countries in the region.
(Foreign Ministry release)
