Embassy of Sri Lanka Manila - Newsletter 4

E-mail :s lembmanila@pldtdsl .net • Website: www.slembmanila .phPhone No: (632) 812--0124 • (632) 812-0125 • Fax No: (632) 812-0126

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Travel LifeCover Story

Donation to floodaffected in Manila

Towards LastingPeace & Stability

Dhamma Sermon

Volume 1, Issue IV 25th September 2012

Philippine – Sri LankaBusiness Council

Special Supplement

Street Food Festival

It is indeed reassuring to note that theimpact of the global financial crisis

has been minimal in many of our coun-tries in the South due to lessons fromprevious crises and the sagacity withwhich we managed our economies. Itake modest pride in the fact that SriLanka is one of the economies in Asiawhere impressive successes have beenrecorded during these turbulent times,the President said at the 16th NAMSummit in Tehran.

Excellency Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,President of the Islamic Republic of Iran &Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement,

Your Excellencies,Distinguished Delegates,Ladies and Gentlemen,At the outset, I express deepest sympa-

thies for the tragic loss of life and destruc-tion caused by the earthquakes that occurreda few weeks ago in North Western Iran. Iwish the people of Iran a speedy recoveryfrom this unfortunate natural disaster.

I am pleased to be in this magnificentcity again, this time with the brethren of theNon-Aligned Movement. I take this oppor-tunity to thank the Government and the peo-ple of the Islamic Republic of Iran for themeticulous organization of this event, andgracious hospitality extended to me and mydelegation.

While warmly welcoming PresidentAhmadinejad as the new Chair of NAM, Iwish to acknowledge the extensive contri-bution made by Iran to the Movement overthe years. I am confident that under his ableleadership the work of NAM will continueto flourish. I also offer my heartfelt appre-ciation to His Excellency Mr. MohamedMorsy, President of the Arab Republic ofEgypt, for their impressive initiatives to theNAM in its capacity as Chair from 2009 to2012.

Sri Lanka at the 16thNAM Summit in Tehran

Sri Lanka is pleased to welcome theRepublic of Fiji and the Republic ofAzerbaijan as the newest Members into theNAM family. The admission of these twoMembers into our fold, brings addedstrength and diversity to us, and clearlyestablishes the relevance of NAM in theglobal arena. We strongly advocate soli-darity among NAM countries, especiallynow.

Mr. Chairman,We are living through challenging

times and the theme for this Summit,“Lasting Peace through Joint Global Gov-ernance” is particularly pertinent. It isthrough joint global action that we will beable to address many of theses challenges.

While the world is still grappling withone of the worst financial crises in memory,we continue to be confronted by an arrayof difficulty issues; ranging from globalwarming, food crisis, demands of energyaccess, terrorism, widespread poverty, cybersecurity and threats to the security of States.

The situation in the Middle East causesalso serious concern.

Our deliberations here must focus ondeveloping practical policy, through themultilateral framework, and pragmatic ap-proaches to deal with these complex is-sues.

Mr. Chairman,Many of us attended the Rio+20 Sum-

mit in June this year, with the hope of se-curing policy outcomes, seeking to addressthe sheer range of environmental and de-velopmental concerns. While the resultsmay have been less than expected, it hasprovided a solid foundation to developpragmatic policy approaches, in dealingwith these pressing challenges. We lookforward to continuing discussions in this

A workshop to apprise the Sri Lanka’s Foreign Envoys abroad on the

rapid development work taking placein Sri Lanka, specially in North East-ern provinces during the post war erawas held in Diyathalawa from 06-07July 2012.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa de-livering the keynote address envisionedthe Sri Lankan envoys on the need ofthe day to overcome all kind of chal-lenges in protecting and uplifting im-age of our motherland in the interna-tional arena. Among the other salientpoints the President deliberated ondrawing foreign investment and furtherpromoting Sri Lanka as a unique des-tination for tourism this special work-shop.

It was the expectation of the coun-try that while fostering bilateral rela-

tions with the host governments theHeads of Missions should ensure thewelfare of the Sri Lankan communi-ties resident in the host countries andencourage them to contribute for na-

tional development. Towards achiev-ing these objectives the staff of all theSri Lanka Missions abroad should uniteand work together in harmony. TheHeads of Missions should bear directresponsibility to ensure such affairs inour Missions abroad, the presidentstressed.

We won an important hurdle in2009, nevertheless we must won thewhole series of this competition, thePresident laid emphasis on the remain-ing challenges in order to improve thequality of life of all our fellow citizens.The ruthless war that devastated ourlives for nearly thirty years was con-cluded and life has been restored in thewar affected areas substantially. Nomore emergency laws, no high secu-rity zones, no check points or road bar-riers, no landmines or bus bombs and

no more refugee camps in Sri Lanka.This is our message to the internationalcommunity today. Look at this phe-nomena of peace dawned to all the peo-ples of Sri Lanka in contrast to thethousands of lives lost, families de-serted, children became orphans, farm-ers lost lively hoods and waste theirenergy in unproductive refugee camps,children lost their education and thenational wealth poured on a disastrousand futile war.

Since 2009 we have managed tomaintain the economic growth at 8%.The rehabilitation and redevelopmentprogrammes undertaken in the war af-fected northern and eastern areas ac-counts for a 22% growth rate during aperiod of three years, one of the high-

A NEW ERA OF RECONCILIATION - NEW ERA OF RELATIONSSRI LANKA HEADS OF MISSIONS MEETING – JULY 06-07 2012 - DIYATHALAWA

cont. p.7 - 16th NAM Summit...

cont. p. 7 - A NEW ERA

A NEW ERA OF RECONCILIATION - NEW ERA OF RELATIONSSRI LANKA HEADS OF MISSIONS MEETING – JULY 06-07 2012 - DIYATHALAWA

Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs Sri Lanka

H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka

Deepika Priyadarshanifor Gusi International

Peace Award

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The city of Manila was inundated due to Habagat rain

that poured down into the streetsof Manila for 8 consecutivedays. The city of Manila and its

Donation to flood affected in Manilalivelihood came to a stand stilldue to this calamity.

Private Organizations, Resi-dent ForeignEmbassies in thePhilippines and many more came

forward to help the people ofManila. Embassy of Sri Lanka inthe Philippines was one of themthat rendered a helping hand.

The Mission with the coordi-

Travel Life Magazine the bestselling Travel Magazine of

the Philippines issued an eight-een paged cover story on SriLanka. Ms. Christine Cunanan,Travel Life publisher handed acopy of the magazine to H.E.Nawalage Bennet Cooray, Am-bassador of Sri Lanka, at theEmbassy premises and empha-sized that this is the biggest coverstory ever done from the TravelLife Magazine.

H.E. Nawalage BennetCooray thanked the publisher ofTravel Life Magazine for theirsupport in promoting Sri LankaTourism in the Philippines andfor airing video documentaries onSri Lanka on Living Asia Chan-nel that was produced duringtheir visits to Sri Lanka.

H. E. Nawalage BennetCooray expressed that TravelLife Magazine has always beena close friend of Sri Lanka andwished to continuate for SriLanka Promotional activities or-ganized by the Embassy in futureas well.

Travel LifeCover Story

The embassy of Sri Lanka inManila initiated a vigorous

programme since 2010 to intro-duce Sri Lanka to the Philippinesas an investment opportunitiesfertile land and also to strengthenand uplift the trade relation be-tween the two countries.

Since then, the Philippine-SriLanka relations kept growing ata steady pace. Both countries be-ing recognized as an EmergingMarket Economies, it is an im-portant juncture for both coun-tries to strengthen the existingtrade relations and explore intodifferent markets that could of-fer more opportunities. In thisbackdrop, the mission in Manilaunder the guidance of H.E.Nawalage Bennet Cooray initi-ated the establishment of a Phil-

Philippines– Sri Lanka Business Councilippine-Sri Lanka BusinessCouncil which is envisioned touplift the trade relations betweenSri Lanka and thePhilippines.The preliminarymeeting was held on the 24th ofJuly 2012 where more than 50participants from the Businesscommunity was present at theofficial residence of H.E. theAmbassador of Sri Lanka.H.E.Nawalage Bennet Cooray in hiswelcome speech highlighted theimportance of the establishmentof this institute that would insti-gate the bi-lateral trade betweenthe two countries.

Professor of East Asia andPacific University Dr. BernardoVillegas, who was also the headof the Business delegation thatvisited Sri Lanka last May 24th,

delivered the key noteaddress.In his speech, Dr.Bernardo Villegas shared hisexperience on his visit to SriLanka and pointed out that is atimely call to venture out to non-traditional markets as it is a wellknown secret about the eco-nomic calamities in Europe andJapan who have been traditionalmarkets of Asia since antiquity.This is more than enough a rea-son to forge new partnershipswith non-traditional partners,said Dr. Bernardo Villegas.Inconclusion, he deliberated onthe shared potential of coconutindustry in Philippine-Sri Lankaand also emphasized the impor-tance of investing in sectorssuch as infrastructure, tourismand Ayurvedic medicare.

During the course of the meet-ing the interim committee wasappointed. Ambassador JoseRomero as Chairman, Dr.Michael Parimalan as the ViceChairman, and Mr. HarishAthauda as the Secretary. Con-cluding the first meeting H.E. theAmbassador thanked the gather-ing for being present and show-ing their support for this step to-wards the strengthening of bilat-eral trade relation between SriLanka and the Philippines.

The followup meeting to es-tablish the Philippine-Sri LankaBusiness Council was held with

the Philippine Chamber of Com-merce and Industry on 29th August.H.E. Nawalage Bennet Cooray,Ambassador of Sri Lanka, offi-cials of the Embassy, interim com-mittee of Philippine-Sri LankaBusiness Council paid a courtesycall to Attorney Miguel Varela,President of Philippine Chamberof Commerce and Industry.

At the meeting PresidentMiguel Varela, stressed that theinitiation of this trade channel ispraise worthy at this juncture ofenhancing bilateral trade relationbetween Sri Lanka and the Phil-ippines.

The meeting concluded withthe decision of electing a perma-nent executive body and regulat-ing the functions of the BusinessCouncil during the exclusive SriLanka Trade Promotion forum,“A Glimpse of Sri Lanka – itsEconomy and Market Potentials”on 8th October 2012.

nation of the Wisdom Foundationdonated dry rations to 50 families.Ven. Keselpotha Maithree Therowas also a witness to this gener-ous act of the Mission.

Standing from left to right, Mr. Sirimewan Dawulagala (Counsellor), Ambassador YujuicoBenedicto (Pres. CACCI), Ambassador Jose Romero (Chairman, Phil-Sri Lanka BusinessCouncil) H.E. Nawalage Bennet Cooray (Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Philippines),Atty. Miguel Varela (Pres. PCCI), Dr. Michael Parimalan (Vice Chairman Phil-Sri LankaBusiness Council), Mr. Ananda Athauda (Secretary Phil-Sri Lanka Business Couincil),Ms. Ruwani Cooray (Second Secretary)

H.E. Nawalage Bennet Cooray, Ambassador of Sri Lanka, addressing the gathering

Dr. Bernardo Villegas, Professor of EastAsia and Pacific University, delivering thekeynote speech

Ven Keselpotha Maithree Thero and H.E. Nawalage Bennet Cooray, giving away the donation.

Ms. Cristine Cunanan presenting a copy ofSri Lanka Cover Story of Travel LifeMagazine to H.E. Nawalage Bennet Cooray

8lo

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NEWS BULLETIN4

H. E. Nawalage Bennet Cooray

It is a great privilege for me tosend this felicitation message

to the members of business com-munities in both Sri Lanka andthe Philippines and all otherfriends and well wishers of SriLanka at the launch of ”AGlimpse of Sri Lanka – It’sEconomy and Market Potentials8th-11th October, 2012” co-spon-sored by the Export Development

Board of Sri Lanka and the Phil-ippine Chamber of Commerceand Industries.

Guided by “MahindaChinthanaya” concept of H.E.Mahinda Rajapaksa President ofSri Lanka the Embassy of SriLanka in Manila embarked upona fast tracked Sri Lanka Promo-tional programme in 2010 to

strengthen existing bilateral rela-tions between the two countriesthrough “1st Sri Lanka Trade, In-vestment & Tourism PromotionForum” a two day event held atDusit Thani Hotel in Manila withthe participation of more than 400distinguished partners from bothSri Lanka and the Philippines.

Thus, the long march startedin July 2010 has strengthenedeconomic relations during thepast two years, paving way forseveral successful business del-egations to exchange visits be-tween Manila and Colombo fi-nally discovering the potentialsfor a sound trade and economicpartnership between the twocountries. Among the businessand media delegations visited SriLanka with the undertaking ofthis strategic awareness cam-paign, I am happy to place inrecord the contributions by Mr.Glen Gale of Manila Times-For-eign Column, Ms. ChristeenCunanan Editor in Chief and themedia crew of Travelife Maga-zine and the Business Delegationheaded by Dr. Bernardo Villegasof Asia Pacific University. Theyhave created a land mark impact

Message of H. E. Nawalage Bennet CoorayAmbassador of Sri Lanka in Manila

on our people to people contactsby giving due prominence to SriLankan Affairs through theirhumble presentations to the gen-eral public in the Philippines.

At this juncture I wish to re-call the guidance and patronagereceived from all the distin-guished including Hon. BasilRajapaksa, Minister of Eco-nomic Development of SriLanka, Hon. Professor G.L.Peiris Minister of External Af-fairs, Hon. Neomal PereraDeputy Minister of External Af-fairs of Sri Lanka as well. I amequally grateful to all the Phil-ippine Government officials, es-pecially of the Department ofForeign Affairs and Departmentof Trade and Industries for theirguidance and unreserved sup-port during our promotional ef-forts in the host country. Also Ithank Atty. Miguel Varela, Presi-dent of the Philippine Chambersof Commerce and Industries andhis officials and also all othertrade Chambers in Sri Lanka andthe Philippines in making thisevent a great success.

Before conclusion, I cordiallyinvite all the interested business

entrepreneurs to visit the SriLanka Pavilion at the 38th Phil-ippine Business Conferenceand Expo where you will have aglimpse of Sri Lanka through el-egant presentations by the SriLanka Tourism promotion Bu-reau and to witness the quality SriLankan products such as gemsand jewellery, apparels & cloth-ing’s, Batiks and paintings andconfectioneries etc; while meet-ing Sri Lankan business partnersfor B2B meetings.

Also at the pavilion, theBoard of Investment (BOI) of SriLanka will present you with thelatest investment opportunities inSri Lanka in mega developmentprojects and highly attractive in-vestment benefits for the foreigninvestor which includes full own-ership of foreign companies un-der BOI approved projects andfifteen year tax holidays for theinvestments etc;

You all are most welcome tothe Sri Lanka Pavilion and Busi-ness Conference at the 38th Phil-ippine Business Conference andExpo.

Thank You.

I have the pleasure of sending thismessage on the occasion of Sri

Lanka’s participation for the firsttime at the 38th Philippine BusinessConference & Expo. It is timelythat a focused Sri Lanka BusinessForum anchoring the theme of “AGlimpse of Sri Lanka – It’sEconomy and Market Potentials” inManila, Philippines. The Sri LankaExport Development Board(EDB), the apex government bodyfor the development and promotionof Sri Lanka’s exports to the worldwhich comes under the Ministry ofIndustry & Commerce in collabo-ration with the Sri Lanka Embassyin Manila has played a key role inmaking Sri Lanka’s presence at thisprogram.

Sri Lanka’s total export to thePhilippines was US$ 9.4 Mn, whiletotal trade between Philippines andSri Lanka was US $ 33 Mn in 2011.

Garments, pneumatic & re-treated rubber tyres & tubes, trans-

port equipments, industrial & sur-gical gloves of rubber, products ofplastics, tea packets, tableware &kitchenware, woven fabrics andprocessed food were the major ex-ports to the Philippine in 2011.Major imports to Sri Lanka fromPhilippine included confectionary& bakery products, paper products,perfumes, cosmetics, shampoos &makeup preparations, products ofplastics, natural sands, activatedcarbon, products of base metal,wadding gauze, bandages & simi-lar pharmaceutical articles, auto-matic data processing machines,articles of stones. These facts dem-onstrate business potentials for bothcountries.

I hope this event will generatenew business avenues for both theSri Lankan and the Philippinesbusinessmen. I wish to extend mybest wishes to the organizers of thismega Expo and the businessmen ofSri Lanka and the Philippines allsuccess in their endeavors.

The Sri Lanka ExportDevelopment Board

# 42, NDB-EDB Building,Nawam Mawatha, Colombo 2

Sri LankaTel: +94-11-2300705 to 11, Fax

+94-11-2300715 Website:www.srilankabusiness.com

E-mail: [email protected]

Message of Chairman, Sri LankaExport Development Board

Janaka Rathnayake Chairman &Chief ExecutiveExport Development Board

It gives me great pleasure to send thismessage on the occasion of Sri Lan-

ka’s participation at the 38th PhilippineBusiness Conference & Expo and theSri Lanka Business Forum in Manila,Philippines from 8th – 11th October2012.

This is the 51st year since Philip-pines and Sri Lanka established theirformal diplomatic relations. The bilat-eral trade volumes have been growingover the years and the trade balance

Message of Hon. Ministerof Industry and Commerce

stands in favor of Philippines as a re-sult of high value imports to Sri Lankafrom Philippines. The Export Devel-opment Board of Sri Lanka, function-ing under my Ministry, is spearhead-ing the export and market diversifica-tion thrust as envisioned by HE thePresident of Sri Lanka MahindaRajapaksa and I believe that 38th Phil-ippine Business Conference & Expo isa timely opportunity for Sri Lanka andPhilippines to explore new opportuni-ties in this regard.

Sri Lanka, with its strategiclogistical positioning and a resurgenteconomy, has been identified a Glo-bal Growth Generator (3G) Countryby the global banking giant Citi Bank.More importantly, it is the gateway toSouth Asia.

I have no doubts whatsoever thatthis event is an important platform forbusiness and investment communi-ties of both countries to showcasetheir products and services to eachother and explore bilateral opportu-nities and synergies in trade, invest-ment and tourism between the twohistoric friends thereby the Philip-pine business and investment com-munity is able to leverage advantageof establishing in the gateway toSouth Asia.

I also believe that developing andthe strengthening bilateral trade andinvestments and examining ways tostrengthen existing trade integrationssuch ASEAN will pave way for SriLanka to realize such policy objec-tives. To this end, I wish to congratu-late and acknowledge the role playedby the Sri Lanka Export DevelopmentBoard and the Sri Lanka Embassy inManila in jointly initiating and host-ing this milestone event.

I wish the 38th Philippine Busi-ness Conference & Expo and the SriLanka Business Forum in Manila allsuccess.

Rishad Bathiudeen M.P.Minister of Industry & Commerce of Sri Lanka

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Embassy of Sri Lanka is joining hands with the Asia Society once again for a street foodPromotion.

Hoppers and Tea, a Sri Lankan delight and a popular street food would be a new experi-ence to the Philippine food lovers.

The Programme is scheduled for 9th and 10th November, 2012 with the participation of localas well as Resident Foreign Embassies in the Philippines where a variety of delicacies will beavailable for food lovers at a lower rate. This occasion is a rare and unique experience to all.Therefore, the mission invites all food lovers to come and enjoy this moment!

Come join us on

November 9th and 10th at Midnight Mercato, Fort Bonifacio from 7.00 – 10.30 p.m.

STREET FOOD FESTIVAL

People to People contacts between Sri Lanka and the Phil-

ippines has been thriving in thewake of the cultural sector pro-motional programmes launchedby the Sri Lanka Mission in Ma-nila during the past few years. En-couraging such relations betweenthe two countries during this pe-riod has paved way for flourish-ing bilateral relating in all otherspheres as well successfully.

In this context the Mission ispleased to announce the listing ofpopular Sri Lankan vocalist Ms.Deepika Priyadarshani Peiris fora prestigious “Gusi InternationalPeace Award” for 2012 amongseveral other elite personalitiesfrom all over the world. Deepikahas been recognized for her tal-ents and also for the services tothe Sri Lankan music, accordingto the Gusi Peace Foundation inManila. During her professionallife of more than two decades shedemonstrated her unique talentsthrough her singing and SriLankan songs, “Saroja” has be-come memorable for the publicin view of Deepika’s perform-ance. She has been honored withmore than twenty highest localand international awards so far.

For the first time, Deepikawas introduced to the Philippineaudience attending the three dayanniversary programme held inManila from 21-23 September,2011 to mark the “50th Anniver-sary of Diplomatic Relations”between the two countries. Dur-ing this performance, among thefascinated audience were Ambas-sador Barry Gusi the President ofthe Gusi Peace Foundation,Madam Dr. Evelyn Gusi and alsoMs. Christine Cunanan the Edi-tor in Chief of “Travelife Maga-zine” of the Philippines. En-

DEEPIKA PRIYADARSHANI PEIRIS,POPULAR SRI LANKAN VOCALIST HAS BEENLISTED FOR GUSI INTERNATIONAL PEACE

AWARD IN THE PHILIPPINES.

thralled by her performance theTravelife Magazine arranged aspecial public performance forDeepika to sing for an exclusiveTravelife audience in Manila to-wards the end of her tour in Sep-tember, 2011.

Among the other nomineesfor the Gusi Peace FoundationAwards 2012 are Mr. KennethKauanda an Ex-President ofZambia, A Royal Princess fromThailand, several famous doc-tors excelled in their profes-sions who have been dedicatedfor the humanitarian servicesand also Chief Justices, musi-cians and TV personalitiesfrom several other countries.The awarding ceremony will beheld on 28th November, 2012 inManila.

While congratulating Deepikafor this memorable achievement,the Sri Lanka Embassy in Manilarecalls with great appreciation thegood gesture by the Gusi PeaceFoundation to honour another SriLankan Major General MahindaHathurasinghe for the first timewith the same peace award, whowas also a merit awardee of theGold Medal by the PhilippineDefence College in 2010.

Dhamma Sermons conductedby Ven. Maithree Thero in Manila

Addressing the gathering as thekey note speaker during the Sec-

ond Fefence seminar organized bySri Lanka Army,under the team of“Towards Lasting Peace and Stabil-ity”, Secretary Defence Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa welcomed alldistinguished delegates who havecome from many countries aroundthe world to attend this event.

Sri Lanka today is one of themost peaceful and stable countries inthe world. It is a country in the midstof a national revival. How this trans-formation has been achieved is at theheart of this seminar. During the

TOWARDS LASTING PEACE AND STABILITYcourse of these three days, all of theparticipants will have the opportu-nity to learn about the strategiesadopted by the Government of SriLanka in addressing its post conflictdevelopment challenges. I particu-larly encourage the foreign delegatesto make full use of their time here tointeract with and learn from the peo-ple who were instrumental in ourpost-war efforts. I am confident youwill learn a great deal of value fromtheir experiences.

Furthering on the theme selectedfor this year seminar, the Defencesecretary told that the Governmentof Sri Lanka has achieved remark-able progress on all this fronts dur-ing a remarkably short span of threeyears. During the course of this ad-dress, he briefly discussed on eachof the post war challenges and out-lined the ways in which they weredealt with. The most pressing issuethat needed to be addressed was in-suring the wellbeing of the civilianswho had been displaced from theirhomes. As the war progressed, theLTTE moved people out of theirtowns and villages and retreated toits strong holds near the Northeast-ern coasts. By the time the war ended

with the LTTE’s defeat, 295,873 in-ternally displaced people were left inthe government’s care. They couldnot return home because their townsand villages were no longer safe forhuman occupation. As it retreated theLTTE had large quantities of anti tankmines and many different types of im-provised explosive devices in the ar-eas it left behind. Demining thoseareas swiftly and resettling the inter-nally displaced was a significant chal-lenge for the state.

While relocating the IDP’s, theprimary focus of the rehabilitationand reintegration programme was toequip the former LTTE cadres withalternative means to a meaningfulexistence. It was felt that the best wayto deradicalise these individuals wasby granting them the chance to be-come productive members of societywho had no reason to feelmarginalized or insignificant. A pre-liminary report on research conductedabout the rehabilitation programmeby Dr. Kruglanski and Dr. Gelflandof the University of Maryland, Col-lege Park, in the USA, has indicatedthat even hard-core ex-LTTE cadreshave undergone a significant reduc-tion in their support for violence. Themore the beneficiaries built up a rap-port with the staff members andguards at the rehabilitation centres,the less likely they were to supportthe violence they believed in whilethey with the LTTE.

These finding are not only veryencouraging from the point of viewof restoring normalcy in Sri Lanka, butthey also vindicate the approachadopted by the Government towardsrehabilitation and reintegration. Thisapproach has been extremely gener-

ous. Most of these cadres who werebeneficiaries of rehabilitation and re-integration were involved in attacksagainst Armed Forces personnel onthe field of battle. Some may also haveparticipated in atrocities against civil-ians. As a result, the normal responseby the state would have been to keepthem in detention and prosecute them.Indeed, this has been the practice inmost post-conflict situations.

However, His Excellency thePresident had a very different view.Instead of prosecuting the majority

Lanka to reconciliation can begauged through this fact.

Further, Mr. Gotabaya noted thatgreat deal of work has been done bythe military to help the civilians. Asthe people of the North and Eastresume their day-to-day lives in apeaceful and stable Sri Lanka, theydo so with fully restored democraticfreedoms, greatly improved stand-ards of living and with unrestrictedopportunities to make a better futurefor themselves. I have every confi-dence that as a result of the manybeneficial developments that havetaken place since the end of the war,there will be no space for the re-emergence of our previous problems.

He also expressed that, Sri Lan-ka’s journey during the three yearssince the dawn of peace has seen thecountry transform itself from a na-tion at war to a country that isamongst the most peaceful, stableand secure in the world. The unwa-vering commitment and resolve ofthe Government to swiftly implementmeasures for Reconstruction, Reset-tlement, Rehabilitation, Reintegra-tion and Reconciliation has laid thefoundation for a prosperous futurefor all our citizens, irrespective oftheir diversity and differences. Clos-ing his remarks Mr. GotabayaRajapaksa, expressed that “I haveevery confidence that as we step for-ward into this brighter future, we willdo so together as Sri Lankans. Thatis the greatest accolade that can bepaid to the success of Sri Lanka’spost-conflict development; that willbe our legacy to future generations”.(Please refer www.slembmanila.phfor full speech)

of the cadres, he insisted that theybe rehabilitated and reintegrated tosociety as fast as possible. He under-stood that these former cadres hadbeen misled by the LTTE, and thatthey needed an opportunity to beguided onto the correct path. As aresult of this vision, the vast major-ity of cadres were rehabilitated andreleased to society in just two years.That is a truly remarkable achieve-ment. Nowhere else in the worldhave enemy combatants been treatedwith such generosity and rehabili-tated at such speed. The sincere com-mitment of His Excellency the Presi-dent and the Government of Sri

“ I have everyconfidence that as

we Step forward intothis brighter future,

We will do sotogether as Sri

Lankans”

Secretary Defence Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lankan vocalist Ms. DeepikaPriyadarshanee Peiris

Mr. Gotabaya RajapaksaSecretary Defence , Sri Lanka

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from page 4 - A NEW ERA

regard at multilateral for a, in orderto manage in a sustainable mannerthe depleting resources for our futuregenerations.

Our collective action must be toachieve better standards of living,healthcare, education, food and energy,security and jobs for the youth. If weare to avoid a calamity, we must de-velop a new model of development,appropriate to the needs of our peo-ple. In my own country, we haveachieved much, in meeting the stipu-lated targets of the Millennium Devel-opment Goals despite a fragile worldeconomy, the constraints imposed bya debilitating three decade terroristconflict, now happily behind us.

Since the end of the conflict, SriLanka’s economy has grown at over8% per annum while bringing infla-tion, unemployment and poverty lev-els down drastically. We have alsoensured that the fruits of economicdevelopment are equitably distrib-uted and reach the most vulnerablesectors of society. Through “GamaNaguma” and “Divi Naguma” pro-

grammes we have been addressingrural poverty alleviation and ensur-ing food security respectively. We areready to share our experiences in thisregard with other countries, as ourachievements are for all.

Mr. Chairman,We are still burdened seriously

disadvantaged by the weight of theglobal crisis that originated in the fi-nancial hubs of the world. In manycases, financial markets and econo-mies operated irresponsibly, bringingcalamity to millions of lives, and dis-rupting the social fabric putting atrisk, the future of the young. Unem-ployment and debt remainunsustainably high casting doubts ona speedy recovery.

Unfortunately, developing coun-tries still continue to get policy pre-scriptions from these very countrieswhere economies and financial mar-kets have been mismanaged. It is ofthe greatest importance to ensure thatthe proposed solutions do not imposeunjustifiable burdens on developingnations.

It is indeed reassuring Mr. Chair-

man, to note that the impact of the glo-bal financial crisis has been minimalin many of our countries in the Southdue to lessons from previous crises andthe sagacity with which we managedour economies. I take modest pride inthe fact that Sri Lanka is one of theeconomies in Asia where impressivesuccesses have been recorded duringthese turbulent times.

Mr. Chairman,This leads to the pressing need to

re-structure the global financial archi-tecture. Global financial institutionsmust reflect the changes in the inter-national arena today. In the face of nu-merous challenges, not only are manydeveloping countries managing theireconomies successfully, but globalfinancial power has also been shift-ing from the industrialized North tothe power houses of the South. It istime that this shift begins to be re-flected in the global structures.

Mr. Chairman,The security of nations is another

imperative that needs to be ad-

dressed. While, the United Nationshas successfully helped to avoid aglobal war in the last 66 years, re-gional conflicts and strife continueto mar the international landscape.The world continues to be confrontedby the threat of globalized terrorismclosely associated with organizedcrime, as well as non-traditionalthreats by transnational criminal car-tels that impede the socio-economicprogress of mankind. Sri Lanka con-tinues to support multilateral effortsto enhance peace and security, andeliminate all forms of terrorism.

Sri Lanka was fortunate to haveended the terrorist challenge threeyears ago, largely through its own ef-forts. I strongly believe that ending athreat of this nature and overcomingthe challenges in its aftermath requiresa homegrown, people based approach,as in the case of my country.

Similarly, the international com-munity must support countries facingthe threat of terrorism. There can beno double standards or the selectiveapplication of standards and princi-ples, if we are to eliminate this men-

est economic indicators and no oneexpected, including the internationalcommunity has been so humble to ac-cept these facts today.

Rapid development plans launchedunder the concepts of Village reawak-ening, life reawakening, roads reawak-ening programmes at rural level havebrought about a vast change in theeconomy while strengthening livelyhoods of the people across the coun-try. The changing face of developmentis visible through mega projects suchas Hambanthota Port DevelopmentProject and other port developmentprojects at Colombo South harbor,Galle, Oluvil, Trincomalee and KKShave been underway. The new port atHambanthota has begun its operationsalready. Several hydro power projectsset up with the private entrepreneur-ship have been added to the nationalgrid to cater the increasing demand forpower supply due to development inindustrial sector.

The new Air port in Mattala will cer-tainly usher a new era in tourism to theSouthern Sri Lanka in near future. Theexpansion and refurbishment projects un-dertaken at the Banadaranaike Interna-tional Air Port will facilitate the increas-ing arrivals to Sri Lanka following theSri Lanka Promotional Programmeslaunched abroad and also the encourag-ing online visa system with relaxed fea-tures to suit current economic and secu-rity contexts of the country.

Foreign PolicyWhile addressing the Sri Lanka

envoys the President underlined theimportance of a new foreign policy tostrengthen existing relations in the in-ternational sphere. “We have placedhigh in agenda the aspirations of theSri Lanka nation in re-designing andshaping our foreign policy mainlybased on friendship. While maintain-ing healthy bilateral relations withneighboring countries we strive tomaintain non-aligned policy while re-specting sovereignty of all the coun-tries in the world.

The west is now turning towardsAsia due to its high market potential andpolitical and geographical significance.We have entered the Asian era. The Asiais re-awakening and we are bound tofurther strengthen our relations with thehost countries with which we maintaindiplomatic relations while lookingforward to establish new relations withothers. We look forward to work in closecooperation with the United Nations asa responsible member of the prestigiousworld body as well.”

Furthering on the protection of SriLanka’s image abroad, PresidentRajapakse alerted the envoys that theLTTE remnants living in western coun-

tries and their supporters have notgiven up the task of tarnishing Sri Lan-ka’s image up to now and therefore itis the responsibility of the Sri Lankaenvoys abroad to surmount such hei-nous efforts by educating the concernedparties and LTTE sympathizers in thehost countries.

During the two day workshop Hon.Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of ExternalAffairs briefed the gathering on theprogress of implementing the LLRSreport recommendations while Hon.Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of EconomicDevelopment lectured on the mega de-velopment projects undertaken by theGovernment since 2009 and the impactbrought about by these projects on theeconomy so far. Among the other speak-ers were Hon. (Dr.) Sarath Amunugama,Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Hon.Dilan Perera, Mr. S.B. Divaratne,Mr. Mohan Pieris and Mr. GotabhayaRajapaksa Secretary Defence.

The meetings were attended byseveral Ministers including Hon.Reginold Cooray, Hon.Neomal Perera, Deputy Minister of Ex-ternal Affairs and Monitoring MP to theExternal Affairs Ministry Hon. SajinVass Gunawardena. The high Govern-ment officials, Mr. LalithWeeratunga, Secretary to the President,Dr. P.B. Jayasundara Secretary Finance,Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabrral Governor Cen-tral Bank of Sri Lanka also attended.

Envoys Visiting DevelopmentProjects

The two day workshop was fol-lowed by a trip to Jaffna by roadthrough Batticaloa and Trincomaleecovering a distance of more than 200kilometers in a four day tour. Thanksto the superb road network built allacross these areas it was a comfortablejourney by bus, when compared to thehassle we had experienced in the past.

I highly appreciate the opportunitygranted to us to witness these mega de-velopment projects unparalleled to anyother in the recent history. HambanthotaPorts Development project, Matthalanew Air port and the network of otherfacilities in and around the sea port andair port and the hotels in the South mayhave certainly provided employment op-portunities for many and they will cer-tainly contribute for the nationaleconomy in the years to come.

Neluwa Yaya Rural DevelopmentProject

Among the rural developmentprojects designed to uplift farmers un-der Divi Neguma programme, we hadthe chance to visit Neluwa Yayaproject which found to be very suc-cessful. Every family has been pro-vided with a water pump for irrigat-ing their agricultural lands and a

mechanism is in place to purchasetheir products at their garden. I per-sonally believe that’s what ruralfarmer needs today, that is to recog-nize and respect their labour andthanks to this encouraging concept bythe Hon. Minister of Economic De-velopment, we will be able to revisitthe past and operations by the gov-ernment organizations such asMARKFED and CWE working handin hand with the rural farmers of SriLanka. This project concept may beinstalled in all over the country, in-cluding North Eastern Sri Lanka, cer-tainly there will be a huge impact onnational economy and social life of thepeople in our country.

Uma Oya hydro power projectsponsored by the Iranian Governmentwill further facilitate irrigating aridlands in Hambanthota through a 24kilometer tunnel while the under-ground hydro power plant inRandenigala will add 120 mega wattsto the national grid.

Dawn of New Life in the Easternprovince – New Road Network andBridges

It wouldn’t be easy to digest thepresent infrastructure development phe-nomena in the East today for those who

ing up along the East coast would thrivethe tourism industry and generate em-ployment opportunities to the youngeducated people as well.

Ushering a new era to the NorthernSri Lanka

What we witnessed through mediafor the past three decades in and aroundJaffna was only a devastated life andbattered environment without any hopefor reconciliation. There was hardly aday passed without bloodshed and un-certainty was looming in this deadlydesert almost three decades. A very lit-tle hope was there for a survival or re-vival of life until President Rajapaksadecided to liberate Tamil people ofNorthern Sri Lanka. I hope they willnot forget, this shared historicalachievement than anybody else in SriLanka for those are the ones who suf-fered the most due to terrorism and nowblessed with their lives returning tonormalcy.

The scars of war now almost disap-pearing, many important land markbuildings including the Jaffna Libraryhas been restored. Almost all the gov-ernment buildings, clock tower, hospi-tals, post office and school buildings areamong them. The Killinochchi Hospi-tal has been renovated to the fullest andstaffed with 35 doctors and more than

for the whole country.

Settikulam – Menik Farm RefugeeCamps

It was with the permission of theDefence Ministry of Sri Lanka I vis-ited the above camps on 04-05 De-cember, 2009 which provided refugefor nearly 300,000 people. It was a busyplace like a large upcoming townshipwith makeshift housing and all otheramenities but with unending demandsfrom the inmates. All the governmentagencies responsible for supplyingutilities were busy while CWE andother agencies provided dry rations andother essential food items to the com-munity. Schools, hospitals and clinicswere in place while post offices andcenters providing free trunk calls to therelatives abroad were also functioningunder Kadirgamar Centre.

By the time we visited the samecamp on 11th July 2012 the place hasbeen almost deserted by those thou-sands of inmates and the people leftthere were not more than 4,000. Withgradual clearing of the landmines in theMuhamalai and respective rural areasthese remaining people will leave thecamp for ever. In whole northern SriLanka 90% of the landmine affectedareas have been cleared so far and it isremarkable that the maximum contri-bution towards this risky operation hasbeen received from the Sri Lankaarmed forces, though UN experts havebeen employed for the purpose.

There are several housing schemescoming up in Northern Sri Lanka forthe IDPs in these areas and some ofthem have been sponsored by the In-dian government. It is peculiar to notethat none of the Tamil Diaspora abroadand in Sri Lanka or LTTE supportersor sympathizers have not contributedfor relocation of the affected Tamils inthe North, either by way of financingor putting up housing schemes or indi-vidual houses.

At this juncture it is our obligationand duty to support the governmenteffort to conclude the resettlement pro-cedure by way of contribution. Thosewho clamour for ethnic harmonyshould get together for the humblecause of putting up new houses forthose who are still left in the refugeecamps and or installing other ameni-ties in the newly built villages in orderto support their livelihood.

In the event of launching such pro-grammes abroad with the guidance ofthe Ministry of External Affairs, themembers of the so-called Diaspora willhave to decide on furthering on theirdubious affairs of tarnishing the nameof Sri Lanka Government or they willhave run the risk of being exposed tothe international community of theirhypocrisy.

ace. We also uphold the principle thatsovereignty must be respected andequal treatment accorded to all. Non-interference in the internal affairs ofStates, as clearly reflected in the UNCharter and the principles of NAM,must remain an abiding principle tobe followed in spirit and letter.

Mr. Chairman,Finally, after over six decades, it

is regretted that the Palestinian ques-tion remains unresolved. There is nomoral or legal justification for not cre-ating a State for the Palestinians asenvisaged by the United Nations in1948. We reiterate the realization ofthe inalienable rights of the Palestin-ian people and as rightful member ofthe World Body without delay.

Mr. Chairman,In conclusion, Sri Lanka stands

committed to support you in yourendeavors ahead, to further the prin-ciples and objectives of the Move-ment under your stewardship.

May the blessing of the NobleTriple Gem bless all of you.

have not visited these areas some thirtyyears ago. It is a total reawakening andrevival for those who suffered heavilyin these areas and deprived of the ben-efits of modern development conceptsand they would not feel anymore thatthey were left behind, the infrastructuredevelopment taking place in the East-ern Sri Lanka is unprecedented.

The new highways and refurbishedrural road network connecting East andWest and also many new bridges re-placing almost all the old structures inthe East would provide a sound basefor a bright economy and a prosperouslivelihood of the farming and fishingcommunities in these areas. In additionto that the new star class hotels com-

800 patients are being cared daily.What has been delivered by the

Rajapaksa Government during a pe-riod of three years since 2009 is quiteenough for anybody who is sincereto admit for the very reason that thesame government which has beentaken to task by an ungrateful lot(claimed to be international commu-nity together with LTTE sympathiz-ers) for so called human rights vio-lations without any justified groundor proof during the final face of thehumanitarian operations in 2009, butwithout a word of appreciation forredeeming hundreds of thousands ofcivilians from the clutches of theruthless terrorism and ushering peace

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A trip with Exporail to Kandy the proud capital ofSri Lanka’s beautiful Hill Country takes you from thehum of the vibrant Fort region of Colombo a steamingmass of humanity where market vendors trade nosilyand tuk tuk’s swerve on a slow rise through paddyfields, before without really realizing it, you findyourself in a part of the world that seems barelytouched by modernization.