http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20100527_03
Sri Lanka is in a new situation - Minister Peiris tells US think tank
In a meeting with officials at USA's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G. L. Peiris stated that Sri Lanka, "is in a new situation," having defeated terrorism a year ago.
He said that there is unprecedented confidence, which is the result of durable peace combined with a degree of political stability the country has not enjoyed for quarter of a century.
Since then, the country has experienced no terrorist incidents, and a change of mood in the country; a mood of optimism, of expectation, he added.
CSIS is one of Washington's premier think tanks, specializing in foreign affairs and security issues. Its staff includes many former government officials, including Teresita Schaffer, a former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka who moderated the discussion.
Referring to the reconstruction and rehabilitation in the North and East, the Minister stressed, "we have achieved a great deal in an extremely short period. I think Sri Lanka has to be given due credit for this achievement."
Creating jobs, he said, has been a vital component of the resettlement and reconciliation effort.
After a year of peace, "Sri Lanka is back on the world's radar," Minister Peiris said. He noted that tourism is rapidly increasing, as is foreign investment.
"We have shed the over-powering constraints that have inhibited any kind of development," he said. "Hotels are a coming back. Companies are putting up factories in Trincomalee and Kilinochchi."
Referring to the recent report by the International Crisis Group, the Minister stated that the government was never given a copy of the report in advance.
"How can we give any response when we have no indication of the evidence the ICG purports to have?" he asked.
He also noted that the report itself does not offer any real evidence crimes, just allegations and accounts from unnamed sources, many of them made previously.
Professor Peiris also criticized the unspecific nature of the report, which noted that tens of thousands of people were wounded or killed in the fighting. "What is tens of thousands?" he asked, "Is that 10,000, 50,000, 90,000?"
In that vein, the minister noted that non-government organizations are not the "International Community," and that the United Nations Human Rights Council "debated these matters for three days," and concluded that it would not take action.
Minister Peiris also discussed possible changes to Sri Lanka's constitution, including the establishment of a bicameral legislature and amendments to the electoral system.
Earlier Tuesday, the Minister and Ambassador Wickramasuriya met with Rep. Howard Berman, who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, as well as Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs of the House Committee on Appropriations.
The Minister updated the members of Congress on the current situation in Sri Lanka, informing them of the nation's unprecedented economic development and process of reconciliation.
Minister Peiris will continue meeting with members of Congress and U.S. government officials during his visit, informing them of the nation's economic development and process reconciliation, in particular the appointment of a Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission in Sri Lanka.
Courtesy : PRIU
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