The President of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa, seen above receiving the FICAC Meritorious Medal of Distinction from the President of the World Federation of Consuls, The Honourable Arnold Foote OJ, at a reception held at the Presidential Palace recently. Also present from left; the Minister of External Affairs, H. E. Professor G. L. Peiris, Hon. Kartar Bhalla, Chairman of FICAC South Asia Region, Hon. K. L. Ganju, FICAC Director and Dr. Ganju, and Hon. Daya Weththasinghe, President of the Association of Consuls in Sri Lanka.[/caption]

It was an excellent reception and all delegates thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Over one hundred delegates at the FICAC 2nd South Asia Regional Consular Conference were in attendance at the Palace. Some of the guests at the presentation included Hon. Aykut Eken, Secretary General of FICAC, Hon. Costas Lefkaritis, Vice President of FICAC, Hon. Francois Piers, Director of FICAC, and Mrs. Piers, Hon. Manik Perera, Past President of the Association of Honorary Consuls in Sri Lanka and Mrs. Perera, Hon. Maahen Kariyawasan, Secretary/Treasurer of the Association of Consuls in Sri Lanka, Hon. Vivek Burman, President of the Honorary Consular Corps Diplomatique – India, and Mrs. Burman, Hon. Kamal Chinoy, Hon. Consul for Cyprus in Pakistan, Hon. Kazi Shamsul Haque, Hon. Consul – Bangladesh, Hon. K. M. Mozibul Hoque, Consul, Republic of Yemen, Hon. Suresh Vaswani, Consul – India, Hon. Shivkumar Eshwaran, HCCD India, Hon. Padma Jyoti, Immediate Past Dean of HCC Nepal, Hon. Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, Nepal, Hon. Elaine Davis, Director FICAC Caribbean Region, Hon. Mohammed Shajahan, newly appointed Chairman of FICAC South Asia Region (2014), Dr. Upali Weragama and Mrs. Weragama.