President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to address the Oxford Union today (13) on the invitation of the Union and the Sri Lanka Society of Oxford University, the President’s office said yesterday.

The topic of his address will be ‘Strategy towards Empowering the Rural Economy of Sri Lanka’.

President Rajapaksa will be the first Head of State of Sri Lanka and a Sri Lankan Statesman who has not previously held office in the Oxford Union to address it as a guest speaker.

The last distinguished Sri Lankan who addressed the Oxford Union was former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.