The President was speaking at the concluding ceremony of the Second International Migrant Health Counseling Summit held on Thursday (Feb. 23) in Colombo.

“Legal migrant is a blessing for a country. But illegal migrants create health, social, economic and political issues for a country”, he said.

“That is why the UNO, WHO and many other organizations give priority to the issue of illegal migrants. At the annual UNO summit and every discussions held related the health issues of refugees and migrants I personally paid attention on what to be done to solve this problem nationally and internationally” he said.

He expressed his confidence about the commitment of all member countries to achieve the objectives of the Colombo Declaration, issued on Thursday.

The Second International Organization for Migration (IOM) was attended by the representatives of 19 countries.

Minister of Health Rajitha Senarathne, Secretary to the Ministry Anura Jayawickrema, the Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh and the Regional director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) South – East Asia Region were among the participants.