The Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and the Foreign Minister Professor G.L. Peiris will shortly make a visit to Bologna, Italy, to participate in an international event which is to be graced by the Prime Minister of Italy and other dignitaries from Italy and other European countries. The Foreign Minister, at his media briefing described the
purpose of the scheduled visit by stating that the Prime Minister will be delivering the keynote address at the opening session of the international symposium which will be held in one of Europe’s oldest seats of learning, the University of Bologna. The foreign Minister stressed that at no stage has the Prime Minister requested nor has he received an audience with His Holiness, the Pope. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister will be leaving Italy, at the conclusion of events in Bologna.