New Country Representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to Sri Lanka Christian Skoog has presented his credentials to Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, yesterday (July 05) at the Foreign Ministry.

Accepting credentials, Minister Gunawardena recalled that the UNICEF’s cooperation with Sri Lanka supporting the rights and wellbeing of children, since the early 1950’s.

Minister Gunawardena acknowledged with appreciation the outstanding work carried out by the UNICEF in Sri Lanka and particularly its efforts to seek empower, educate and enable Sri Lanka’s children to become the agents of change who drive national development into the future. He also commented the UNICEF’s COVID-19 response and social protection.

While elaborating UNICEF’s child-centred approach designed to positively impact the stages of a child’s growth and development which is categorized as early childhood, middle childhood and adolescence, UNICEF Country Representative underscored that the organization wishes to work closely with Sri Lanka towards 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, mainly in achieving the SDGs directly linked to children.

Minister Gunawardena expressed hope that the ongoing excellent cooperation between the Sri Lankan government and the UNICEF will be further strengthened during the term of the new UNICEF Country Representative.