Sri Lanka will be hosting the next International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) Sept. 18-21, 2014, with the opening ceremony scheduled to take place Sept. 19. The preparations were finalized when the secretary-general of the ICAPP Standing Committee Mr. Chung Eui-yong met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees this afternoon. As hosts, Sri Lanka was requested to The invitation to host this year’s ICAPP was made in July of last year. When Mr. Eui-yong met the President then, he said other ICAPP members were “very enthusiastic” about the possibility of Sri Lanka hosting the next conference. Approximately 100 different political parties from throughout Asia are expected to attend the high-level conference.

“Sri Lanka is very strategically located for such a meeting,” Mr. Eui-yong said during the meeting in July.

President Rajapaksa also addressed a special conference of ICAPP in Shaanxi Province during his state visit to China in May 2013. At that meeting as well, there was a focus placed on the need to strengthen the relationships between and among Asian nations.

Ambassador of Korea in Sri Lanka Mr. Jongmoon Choi accompanied Mr. Eui-yong.

Minister of Health and the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Mr. Maithreepala Sirisena, Secretary to the President Mr. Lalith Weeratunga and Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs Mrs. Kshenuka Seneviratne were also present.