Sri Lanka in Italy

The working people of Sri Lanka mark this year’s May Day at a decisive moment, as the country secures significant economic achievements despite a challenging global climate shaped by conflict. Even amid major challenges such as United States tariffs, Cyclone Ditwah and the conflict in the Middle East, we have safeguarded the security of our overseas workers by upholding Sri Lanka’s longstanding humane and non-aligned foreign policy. At the same time, through effective responses to natural disasters, we have recorded notable economic progress in 2025. These include the lowest budget deficit since 1977 and the highest government revenue since 2007. Export earnings from goods and services exceeded USD 17 billion, making it the only year to surpass revenue targets while also recording the highest foreign remittances in our history. I extend the nation’s sincere gratitude to the working people whose contribution made these achievements possible. Recognising the true value of labour, we have implemented policies to uplift working people. These include increasing public sector basic salaries, raising private sector minimum wages and granting pension rights to public servants recruited after 1 January 2016. Plantation workers’ wages have been increased to Rs. 1,750 and legal provisions relating to women’s night-time employment have been amended. The Mahapola scholarship has also been increased by Rs. 10,000 to support the education of workers’ children. In addition, we have extended benefits across society, including to farmers, fishers, youth, women, students, producers, small-scale entrepreneurs and plantation communities. The recent Cyclone Ditwah most severely affected the working population. In response, we provided the highest disaster compensation in our history, alongside relief for farmers, fishers and small and medium-scale industries. Through the “Rebuilding Sri Lanka” programme, we are expediting housing construction and restoring livelihoods, raising living standards beyond previous levels. Our primary objective is to safeguard the rights of the working people in this nation and to create a more stable economy and a brighter future for our children, rather than allowing them to endure suffering, tears and pain. We acknowledge that it is essential to modernize human society, the economy, and production systems to align with the constantly evolving productive forces and the changing environment, making this a crucial task. Key initiatives include the proposed education reforms, the digital economy programme, the Clean Sri Lanka initiative and the ‘Prajashakthi’ programme. As we strive to recover lost development and build “A Thriving Nation – A Beautiful Life”, we place our confidence in the working people of Sri Lanka as the driving force of this journey. With that conviction, we continue to work while learning and learn while working, towards steady progress. I warmly invite all working people to join this collective effort with commitment and integrity in building a better nation and I extend my best wishes for a meaningful May Day. Anura Kumara Dissanayake President Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 01.05.2026

பௌதீக ரீதியாகவும் ஆன்மீக ரீதியாகவும் மாற்றம் பெறுவதை அடையாளப்படுத்தும் சிங்கள மற்றும் தமிழ் புத்தாண்டானது, இந்நாட்டு மக்களின் பிரதான கலாசார விழாவாகும். பாரம்பரிய சம்பிரதாயங்களைப் பாதுகாத்து, சுபநேரச் சடங்குகளுக்கும் சமயக் கிரியைகளுக்கும் முன்னுரிமை அளித்து, கூட்டாக ஒரே சுபநேரத்தில் சிங்கள தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. இந்தப் பண்பாட்டுப் பகிர்வு உலகிற்கு முன்னால் எமது நாட்டின் அடையாளத்தையும், எமது சமூகங்களுக்கு இடையே நிலவும் சமூக-கலாசார பிணைப்பையும் சிறப்பாகப் பிரதிபலிக்கிறது. நாட்டின் எதிர்கால அபிவிருத்திப் பாதையை, இந்த பெறுமதிமிக்க கலாசாரம் மற்றும் உன்னதமான வரலாற்று மரபுரிமைகளுடன் இணைந்தே தெரிவு செய்ய முடியும் என நாம் உறுதியாக நம்புகின்றோம். அதற்கமைய, எமது அனைத்து எதிர்கால அபிவிருத்தித் திட்டங்களும் அந்த பெறுமதியான மரபுரிமைகள் மற்றும் கலாசாரத்தின் மீது வலுவாக உருவாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன என்பதை இங்கு நினைவுபடுத்த வேண்டும். அதேபோல், சூரிய பெயர்ச்சியைத் தொடர்ந்து முன்னெடுக்கப்படும் அனைத்துச் சடங்கு முறைகளின் பொதுவான எதிர்பார்ப்பானது, கூட்டுப்பண்பை மதிக்கும், பிறரையும் இயற்கையின் இருப்பையும் கௌரவிக்கும் ஒரு புதிய மனிதனை உருவாக்குவதாகும். புத்தாண்டின் சடங்கு முறைகளில் வெளிப்படும் கூட்டுப்பண்பின் குணாதிசயங்களும் விழுமியங்களும் அந்த சில நாட்களுக்கு மாத்திரமன்றி, முழு வருடமும் எமது நடத்தைகளில் பிரதிபலிக்க வேண்டும் என நான் நினைக்கிறேன். கடந்த வருடம் முகங்கொடுத்த பாரிய இயற்கை அனர்த்தத்தின் போது உள்ளக அதிர்வுகளுக்கு தாக்குப் பிடிக்கும் இயலுமையை உலகிற்கு காண்பித்தோம். மத்திய கிழக்கு பிராந்தியத்தின் போர்ச் சூழல் நிலைமையில் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள வெளிப்புறச் சவால்களை வெற்றிகொள்வதற்குத் தேவையான வேலைத்திட்டங்களை அரசாங்கம் தற்போது நடைமுறைப்படுத்தியுள்ளது. நாடென்ற வகையில் ஒன்றாக இந்த சவால்களை வெற்றிகொள்கையில் சிங்கள மற்றும் தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு காலத்தில் வெளிப்படுத்தப்படும் கூட்டுப்பண்பு மற்றும் பகிர்ந்துகொள்ளல் போன்ற பண்புகளினால் , எமது வாழ்க்கையை மேலும் அர்த்தமுள்ளதாக்க அர்ப்பணிப்புடன் செயற்படுவோம் என நான் அனைவரிடமும் கேட்டுக்கொள்கின்றேன். அடைந்த வெற்றிகளை மேலும் அர்த்தமுள்ளதாக்குவதோடு, எழுந்துள்ள சவால்களுக்கு மத்தியில் தளராது முன்னேறி, 'வளமான நாடு - அழகான வாழ்க்கை' என்பதை அனைவருக்கும் உரித்தாக்குவதற்கு கைகோர்க்குமாறு அனைவருக்கும் அழைப்பு விடுப்பதோடு, பிறந்துள்ள இந்தச் சிங்கள மற்றும் தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு அமைதியும் மகிழ்ச்சியும் நிறைந்த இனிய புத்தாண்டாக அமைய எனது மனப்பூர்வமான நல்வாழ்த்துகளைத் தெரிவித்துக்கொள்கின்றேன். அநுர குமார திசாநாயக்க ஜனாதிபதி இலங்கை ஜனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசு 2026 ஏப்ரல் 14 ஆம் திகதி

භෞතිකව සහ ආධ්‍යාත්මිකව අලුත් වීමේ අපේක්ෂාව සංකේතවත් කරන, සිංහල සහ දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුද්ද මෙරට ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රධානතම සංස්කෘතික උත්සවයයි. පාරම්පරික සම්ප්‍රදාය සුරකිමින් චාරිත්‍රවලට සහ ආගමික කටයුතුවලට මුල්තැන දෙමින් සාමුහිකව, එකම නැකතකට කටයුතු කිරීම සිංහල සහ දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුද්දේදී සිදු කෙරේ. මෙම සංස්කෘතික බෙදාහදාගැනීම ලෝකය අභිමුවේ අප රටෙහි අනන්‍යතාව මෙන්ම අපගේ ප්‍රජාවන් අතර පවතින සමාජ-සංස්කෘතික බැඳීම මනාව නිරූපණය කරන්නකි. රටේ අනාගත සංවර්ධන මාවත තෝරාගත හැක්කේ මෙම අගනා සංස්කෘතියත්, විශිෂ්ට ඓතිහාසික උරුමයත් සමඟින් බව අප තරයේ විශ්වාස කරමු. ඒ අනුව අපගේ සියලු ඉදිරි සංවර්ධන සැලසුම් සකස් කර ඇත්තේ එම වටිනා උරුමය සහ සංස්කෘතිය මත ශක්තිමත්ව දෙපා තබා ගනිමින් බව මෙහිලා සිහිපත් කළ යුතුය. එමෙන්ම, සූර්ය සංක්‍රාන්තියට අනුගාමීව සිදු කෙරෙන සියලු චාරිත්‍ර-වාරිත්‍රයන්හි පොදු අපේක්ෂාවෙන් පිළිබිඹු කෙරෙන්නේ සාමුහිකත්වය අගයන අනෙකාගේ මෙන්ම සොබාදහමේ පැවැත්මට ගරු කරන සහකම්පනීය අලුත් මිනිසෙකු නිර්මාණය කිරීමයි. අලුත් අවුරුද්දේ චාරිත්‍ර-වාරිත්‍රවලින් ප්‍රකට වන එම සාමුහිකත්වයේ ගුණාංග සහ හරයන් එම දින කිහිපයේ පමණක් නොව මුළු වසර පුරාම අපගේ චර්යාවෙන් නිරූපණය විය යුතු යැයි මම සිතමි. පසුගිය වසරේ මුහුණ පෑ මෑතකාලීන විශාලතම ස්වභාවික ව්‍යසන අභියෝගය හමුවේ අප ලොවට පෙන් වූ අභ්‍යන්තර කම්පනවලට ඔරොත්තු දීමේ හැකියාව මෙන්ම මැදපෙරදිග යුද්දයෙන් එල්ලව ඇති බාහිර අභියෝග හමුවේත් සැලසුම් සහගතව, මනා වූ කළමනාකරණයකින් යුතුව කටයුතු කරමින් එම අභියෝග ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමට ඇවැසි වැඩපිළිවෙළද රජය විසින් මේ වන විට ක්‍රියාවට නංවනු ලැබ තිබේ. රටක් ලෙස එක්ව මෙම අභියෝග ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමේදී සිංහල සහ දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු සමයේ ප්‍රකට කෙරෙන සාමුහිකත්වය සහ බෙදාහදාගැනීම ආදී ගුණාංගවලින් තවදුරටත් අප ජීවිත අර්ථවත්කර ගැනීමට කැප වෙමු'යි මම සියලු දෙනාගෙන් ඉල්ලමි. දිනාගත් ජයග්‍රහණ වඩාත් ශක්තිමත් කරන අතරම, උද්ගතව ඇති අභියෝග මතින් නොසැලී පියමං කරමින් ‘පොහොසත් රටක් - ලස්සන ජීවිතයක්’ සැමට උරුම කර දීමට සහෝදරත්වයෙන් අත්වැල් බැඳ ගනිමු'යි සියලු දෙනාට ආරාධනා කරමින් ලැබුවා වූ සිංහල සහ දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුද්ද සාමය සහ සතුට පිරි සුබ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා'යි හෘදයාංගම සුබපැතුම් එක් කරමි. අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක ජනාධිපති ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය 2026 අප්‍රේල් 14 දින