Over 800 journalists registered so far :

World leaders for CHOGM due here from Nov 14

by Manjula Fernando

World leaders for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting will start arriving in the country on November 14 and 15, the day of the inauguration at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Performing Arts Theatre in the evening.

A senior spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry said the official Commonwealth delegations will start arriving in the country on November 4. A youth delegation from the UK will be the first to arrive in the country.. The Commonwealth People’s Forum in Galle and the Youth Forum in Hambantota scheduled from November 10-14 will be the first events to be flagged off followed by the Business Forum at the Hotel Cinnamon Grand in Colombo from November 12-14.

A pre-CHOGM Foreign Ministers’ meeting will be held on November 13 and 14 at the BMICH and a program for the Foreign Ministers’ spouses from November 13-16 will include visits to Galle and Kandy.

One of the important side events to CHOGM will be the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) on the Harare Declaration. The CMAG meeting will be held on November 13 at the BMICH.

The CMAG is the Commonwealth’s political watchdog which assesses the nature of persistent infringements of fundamental political values and recommends collective action “aimed at speedy restoration of democracy and constitutional rule”.

The Commonwealth main meeting, Retreat and the bi-lateral meetings of Heads are scheduled from November 15-17.

A joint press conference will be held by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma following the closing ceremony on November 17 morning. Already 530 local media personnel have registered to cover the summit while over 300 international media personnel have applied for CHOGM accreditation.

Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath said they have closed the registration for the local media but applications from the international media were still being entertained. The Ministry hopes to accommodate up to 500 foreign journalists.