A meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Catholic religious leaders, led by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, was held at the Presidential Secretariat today (10).

Special attention was given to the Government’s programme to strengthen coexistence, peace and reconciliation among all communities in the country and to ensure national unity by preventing any form of racist or religiously motivated hate activity.

The progress of investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks was also discussed, according to a statement issued by the President’s Media Division.

Lengthy discussions were held on measures that could be taken to prevent environmental damage and destruction affecting the lives of the people.

The Catholic religious leaders commended the measures taken by the Government to safeguard trust among all communities and expressed their fullest support for these efforts, the PMD said.

The issues faced by Catholic communities, including infrastructure development in areas where Catholic people reside, as well as measures that should be taken to address these issues, were also discussed at length, it added.

Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini, Rev. Fr. Julian Patrick and other priests, as well as Deputy Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs Muneer Mulaffer, President’s Senior Additional Secretary Roshan Gamage and others, were also present at the meeting.

--PMD--