Published on - 7/16/2003
Sri Lanka\'s first-ever international seminar for Military Officers from Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs), organized by United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Oiperations (UNDPKO), closed its sessions on Wednesday (16) after successfully covering a wide spectrum of related subjects.
Sri Lanka, as an emerging TCC, co-hosted this course for the first time though it was the 18th UN Training Assistance Team (UNTAT) Peacekeeping Course. This fortnight course (July 2-16), attended by 32 military officers from 16 countries in the South East Asia was conducted at Wattala Pegasus Reef Hotel. Eleven Officers from Sri Lankan Armed forces followed this UN course
Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando, UNDPKO Course Director Lt. Col. Vasant Mande of the Indian Army, Army Commander Lt. Gen. L. P Balagalle RWP RSP VSV USP ndc IG, Chief of Staff Major General L. C. R Goonewardene RSP USP ndc IG, Deputy Chief of Staff A. E. D Wijendra RSP USP ndc psc graced the inaugural ceremony.
Australian Navy Captain Ms. Carolyn Brand, Head UNDPKO Training & Evaluation Department, Lt. Colonel Vasant Mande, Deputy Head UNDPKO Training and Evaluation Department who was also the Course Director, Mr Nihal Rodrigo, Secretary Foreign Affairs Ministry, Army Commander L. P Balagalle RWP RSP VSV USP ndc IG and Army\'s Chief of Staff Major General L. C. R Goonewardene RSP USP ndc IG, Brigadier S. M. de A Rajapakse RWP RSP Ldmc, Director, Army\'s Training Directorate and several senior Army Officers attended the closing ceremony where merit certificates and symbolic mementos were awarded to course attendants by some of the distinguished guests.
Subjects that were taken up for discussion during this course included Structure of UN Peacekeeping Operations, Stress Management, Code of Conduct, Gender and Child Protection, Attitudes and Behaviours, Human Rights, Communication and Negotiations and several others.
