• Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Italy Jagath Wellawatte speaks of the challenges faced in providing diplomatic services to Lankans in Italy and the need for the Lankan authorities to address the new realities that domiciled Lankans are grappling with 

Jagath Wellawatte is the current Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Italy. He has faced criticism after he was previously nominated as the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Australia and also when he was appointed as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Italy. In an interview with The Daily Morning from Italy, he speaks about the latest allegations of corruption, the officers who were involved, and their ties with Italy.  

The following are excerpts from the interview:

What is the current situation since your appointment?

Before I came to the Embassy, the Consulate General Office in Milan had many issues, mainly with regard to the consular services provided to the Sri Lankan community as there were so many delays due to the limited staff. At around 2.30 a.m., there were queues. The services were very limited during the Covid-19 pandemic. There were so many social media campaigns against me and my appointment. I’m a university lecturer and as a sociologist, I understand the situation and their aggressive minds, so immediately, I started providing a good service for them. We provided services for 60% of the Sri Lankans in Rome and 40% in Milan. The Milan Consulate General Office was using an online appointment system, which was being misused by the agents, so we stopped using it. Initially, we received around 150 more appointments, but, within a few days, we were able to reduce this number to 30. We only did a few technical changes. We cannot blame the people because they took so much effort to reach the consular services here in Rome and in Milan, but, some of the agents were in control of providing appointments, where ordinary people had to wait for many hours outside despite coming early in the morning. I visited areas in Italy, especially Milan, Naples, Verona, etc., and I was able to meet the Sri Lankan community. After those discussions, I initiated the opening of the Embassy’s gates at 7 a.m. Previously, the office time was 9.30 a.m. There is no big rush there. Consular mobile services are also being established now, and more than 200 people have already benefited. I suppose that there were some malpractices, but it was due to the unusual traffic. Now, everything is cleared. There is no need to pay a single Euro to third parties to get your job done.

There are many complaints from many Sri Lankans about the Embassy, especially about the staff and malpractices.

I also received some complaints related to malpractices. When I was checking the closed circuit television camera footage, I saw one officer handing over a parcel to a vehicle. That was found to be a malpractice. These Embassy officers were having connections with agents. There were direct and indirect malpractices. Not only the senior officers but the junior officers were also involved in these malpractices. Today, there is no need to pay money to third parties. Recently also, I gave a warning letter to the Consular officers, asking them to stop any connection with the agents. From my side, I’m against malpractices. The problem is the middlemen. Sometimes, they charge from the people, even for services which the Embassy cannot provide. Then, the blame comes directly to the Embassy. Corruption was everywhere. I’m going to punish anyone connected with middlemen. 

There were rumours about the Italian Embassy in Sri Lanka relocating to India. Are they true?

No. However, during the aragalaya (the public movement to overthrow the previous Government led by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa), someone threatened the Embassy. But, it was a fake social media campaign. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy was sensitive about the planned protest in front of the Italian Embassy in Colombo. However, I was able to have a dialogue with the protesters and get it called off.

What about the delays in visa processes and paperwork from the Italian Embassy in Colombo?

The issue is fake documents. This was revealed after a discussion with the Ambassador of Italy to Sri Lanka. Now, they are strict with the rules. Some Sri Lankans pretended to be parents of kids and they applied to get a family reunion visa. How can they even apply for such a visa with fake documents?  Another issue is the Visa Facilitation Services and the appointment dates. Even they changed the location there. I also informed them about the tourist visa which they are not providing at the moment. But, people come to Italy with a Schengen visa and the Italian Embassy loses all the profit.

What are the main plans for the upcoming months?

I realised there were issues related to the second generation. They don’t have a goal and some Sri Lankans need counselling. This is related to the education system here in Italy where some parents send their children to schools where they study in the Sinhala medium and after doing the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (O/L), they need to go back to Sri Lanka to do their Advanced Level (A/L). I requested from the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka to provide the authority to conduct exams here at the Italian Embassy or Consulate General, utilising these locations as exam centres. But, nobody is interested in this proposal. Some schools in Italy which provide education for Sri Lankans are not registered as education providers. The basic requirement in Italy is that they need professional training. There are vacancies in the hotel and cleaning sectors. According to Italian Government statistics, more than 200,000 vacancies are there, but Sri Lankans are unable to fulfil their requirements due to a lack of qualifications. Currently, I’m in conversation with the universities and colleges in Italy to bring down Sri Lankan students.

Are you trying to encourage Sri Lankans living in Italy to send remittances?

There are many Sri Lankans here in Italy who are now well-established with citizenship. Many who were here say, in 1990, would build a house and show it off, and this entices others too, to invest here, but not in Sri Lanka due to the current situation in the country. Only illegal migrants send money to Sri Lanka. The Government in Sri Lanka needs to introduce new investment opportunities to encourage them. Sri Lankan businessmen have even invested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and other countries, not in Sri Lanka. Even the younger generation is working for United States companies online and prefer those jobs over wasting time on their O/L and A/Ls. We need to accept that this would be the case from now on.

How can diplomatic relationships between the two countries be strengthened further?

The main attention is towards finalising driving license-related issues and labour agreements. I only request professional job agreements. But, we need to enhance language skills and we are working towards an online platform which would help them to study Italian. We also focus on joint vocational training opportunities.