Your Excellency Mr. J.R. Jayewardene, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Madam Jayewardene:

May I first of all express my very real pleasure at being in Sri Lanka at your invitation and our sincere gratitude for the warm welcome which Your Excellency and Madam have extended to me and my wife. The generous reception my wife and I have received from the Government and people of this beautiful and bountiful land has well justified their well-known reputation at extending hospitality to those who visit their shores.

An event of this nature, a state visit, is of course of particular relevance, and a time when two sovereign nations celebrate an essential unity of purpose and endeavour. While there have been Prime Ministerial visits in the past between our two countries, this is the very first time in our history that a Head of State from my country has been officially received here, and the welcome I have been accorded has indeed been equal to the occasion.

In one important respect the fact that I represent the people of a close neighbour, both in geographical and personal terms, gives this visit a new dimension. For close neighbours can all too easily take one another for granted and, over a period of time, permit their relationship to be less important than it should be. The result of such a process could well be that those who through past association should know and care most become in actual fact indifferent to and ignorant of each other. Such a circumstance is of course not the case in our relationship.

Mr. President, the bonds that unite the Maldives and Sri Lanka reach back into history - long before either of our countries achieved political independence. Indeed, some of our early ancestors are said to have come from this very island around 2,500 years ago. Our language, our culture and many of our age-old customs bear eloquent witness to this. Our relationship had grown so close over the centuries that the nature of unity between our two peoples have acquired a distinct ‘family’ atmosphere. And perhaps of special significance are those spiritual values common to both our peoples - the most sacred being the reverence for life in all its many forms and the belief in universal human brotherhood.

The Maldives and Sri Lanka have also a long-standing trading relationship. There can be but a few in this country who have not heard of, or tasted, that delicacy known here as 'Maldives Fish'! More recently, co-operation between our two countries has expanded to many new areas. Since the early 1960s, Sri Lankan teachers have served in our schools, some holding positions of prominence up to the time when many Maldivians became qualified to assume those duties. Even today a fair number of Sri Lankan teachers and other professionals are found in the sphere of our public services.

I would not wish this occasion to pass without paying tribute to Your Excellency, Mr. President, for the personal contribution you yourself have made to the quality of the relationship which so happily exists between our two peoples. You have been a good and constant friend, steadfast in your concern for the Maldives and known for your high regard for us from the time you first held public office more than 40 years ago.

Mr. President, as your closest neighbours and true friends, it is natural that we in the Maldives should keenly observe developments in your country. Sri Lanka has always enjoyed a reputation for social harmony and concord. If the great social example of communal tolerance and amity that has for so long prevailed in this country were allowed to fall into disrepute, then a light in the world would have been dimmed.

I have been greatly heartened to read recent media reports about Your Excellency's report to the round table plenary in which you have said that "there had been acceptance by all participants at the conference that the causes of ethnic violence and all forms of terrorism in all parts of the country must be eradicated. We have great confidence that with the patience, wisdom and the spirit of ethnic brotherhood for which Sri Lanka has been well-known, the peace, unity, and the stability the people of this country so well deserve will once again reign supreme.

In the international sphere our two countries share common objectives and policies. We are, of course, member states of the United Nations and endorse the Organization's call for the Indian Ocean to be declared a zone of peace. We believe that the early convening of the Colombo Conference to give immediate effect to this declaration is the only realistic manner in which the dangerous escalation of super power military activity around us can be halted.

We are also members of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth and South Asian Regional Co-operation. The Government of the Maldives places considerable importance on SARC - believing that much is going to depend on the degree and nature of co-operation which we are able to achieve for our region by working closely together.

On the major issues of our time we are in full agreement, both our Governments having persistently supported in all international fora the call for a global condemnation of the inhuman practice of apartheid in South Africa, and for the realisation of the legitimate aspirations of the long-suffering people of Palestine - a realisation which would see them restored to their own land as a sovereign people. We have also called for an end to the increasing practice of military intervention by one state in another, as evidenced in Kampuchea and Afghanistan. Similarly, we are united in our rejection of the planet's precious resources being used to an ever-increasing degree in the production of weapons of mass destruction at a time when so much of humanity has a dire need for those very resources to be used in the war against poverty and disease. We are also in accord on the urgent need for a re-ordering of the world's trading and financial arrangements so that a greater degree of economic justice and equity will prevail between the industrialized and primary producing societies.

Mr. President, it remains our hope in the Maldives that our two peoples will, fast in the spirit of mutual respect and mutual confidence and based on an identity of views and purpose, continue to work for the achievement of national and regional progress as well as international peace and stability. The people of the Maldives salute the people of Sri Lanka, and do so with all sincerity.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

May I ask you kindly to raise and join me in a toast:

- to the health and happiness of His Excellency Mr. J.R. Jayewardene, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and Madam Jayewardene;

- to the continued progress and prosperity of the people of Sri Lanka; and

- to everlasting friendship and mutual co-operation between our two Governments and peoples