Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel
In June 2025, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited Germany, and many posts about the visit were published on social media. Meanwhile, a post on social media indicated that President Dissanayake did not travel to Germany for a state visit, confirmed by the German Federal Foreign Office. We did a fact-check to confirm the credibility of this post.
Social Media Posts :
Below is the social media post that was circulated.
“There is no information about Anura’s visit to Germany – German Federal Foreign Office.
There is a website in Germany that provides information. https://fragdenstaat.de/
It facilitated the request for information from relevant government ministries.
Under this, I have requested the German Federal Foreign Office regarding Anura’s visit to Germany on June 14, 2025.
I asked,
In accordance with Article 1 of the country’s IFG,
1. Was the visit of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to Germany on 14 June 2025, at the invitation of the German Federal Government (a state visit or an official visit)?
2. Did President Dissanayake make all the visits and meetings during his time in Germany of an official nature, or did he also attend private meetings?
In response, I received that the Federal Foreign Office in Germany had no information on this matter.
So, at whose expense did Anura travel to Germany?
If the information provided is incorrect, I request that the Sri Lankan government inform us.
The response received in German and the translation are included below.”
Facebook | Archived Link FB | FB | FB
A video was also published regarding this.
Here is how we investigated this matter.
Fact Check :
The Presidential Media Division had announced that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had left the island on an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany on the 11th of June.
The mainstream media reported that President Anura is undertaking a three-day official state visit to Germany at the invitation of the country’s President, Frank- Walter Steinmeier. You can refer to those posts from here, here, and here.
The President, who arrived at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, was greeted with a military salute by the German armed forces. Bilateral talks were held between the President and the German President, and the local media covered the event in their newscasts.
Did the German media and the Foreign Office report on President Anura’s visit?
Some media outlets in Germany had also reported news regarding President Anura’s visit to the country.
If this visit was not an official visit, the President of this country would not have been welcomed with an official reception ceremony with the German tri-forces. During this visit, bilateral discussions were held between the two countries, and diplomats met, as evident in the photos and videos. Video footage is as follows.
Despite this, is it possible to state that the German Federal Foreign Office has stated it does not have information on this?
German Federal Foreign Office
To obtain clarification on this matter, we sent an email to the Federal Government Press and Information Office (Bundespresseamt) and the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), which handles all German diplomatic and official travel, requesting further information.
The Federal Foreign Office sent us a reply email on October 14, confirming the information and stating that they deeply regret the confusion caused by the above social media post.
The following information is provided by the Asia-Pacific Information Officer at the Auswärtiges Amt, the German Federal Foreign Office, or the official German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an explanation of this matter.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Auswärtiges Amt) and the Federal Agency for Foreign Affairs (Bundesamt für Auswärtiges Angelegenheiten or BfAA) are two separate government agencies (with offices in various cities).
- Somehow, the question posed by the relevant social media user was mistakenly directed to the BfAA, which, however, is not an institution involved in foreign policy matters such as the visits of the Sri Lankan head of state.
- He also stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Federal Foreign Office did not receive any inquiries regarding the visit of Sri Lankan President Dissanayake through frag-den-staat (the institution to which the social media user directed his address).
The email further stated that the German Foreign Ministry considers President Anura’s visit to Berlin from June 11 to 14, 2025, as a very valuable and important milestone in developing bilateral relations between the two countries.
You can refer to that email below.
Reasons for the confusion:
What has happened here is that the social media user has directed their question about President Anura’s foreign trip to Germany to FragDenStaat, rather than to an official German government agency or ministry.
This institution is a civil society platform operated by the Open Knowledge Foundation in Germany; a non-governmental organization (NGO) that helps citizens exercise their right to information from German authorities. The platform enables users to submit Freedom of Information Act requests to German and EU public authorities, but it is not a government institution.
Accordingly, with the reply to the relevant email provided in the social media post, it appears that the relevant institution has forwarded the question referred by the Sri Lankan social media user to the Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten (BfAA). However, this is not the German Foreign Ministry/Federal Foreign Office. This is the institution operating under the German Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office), specifically providing services to the administrative affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The functions of this institution include administrative tasks, such as managing funds for humanitarian aid projects, processing certain visas, and overseeing the properties of federal foreign offices in other countries. However, diplomatic transactions between governments are handled directly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Conclusion
Accordingly, social media users have been misled by the above mentioned post published on social media, stating that it was a response from the German government’s Federal Foreign Office (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake did not make an official visit to Germany.
The German Foreign Ministry, Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office), explained to us in an email that the German Foreign Ministry considers President Anura’s visit to be a very valuable and vital sign for the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.
Join us to learn more about our investigative fact findings.
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google News | TikTok | Youtube
Title:Is President Dissanayake’s visit to Germany, not an Official State Visit?
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Misleading
