International donor agencies pledge more development assistance

• 88% of rehabilitation work in the Northern and Eastern provinces is complete President tells donor agencies

 Representatives from international donors yesterday pledged more development assistance to Sri Lanka to continue the rehabilitation and development work in the war-torn North and East. 

President Maithripala Sirisena told representatives from leading international donor agencies that his development objectives deliver equal benefits to all citizens of the country while developing all nine provinces of the country in an equal manner. 

However, he said that the Government was focusing more on developing the North and East of the country which were devastated during the war. 

The representatives pledged their fullest support to the efforts taken by the Sri Lankan President to achieve goals of development and reconciliation.

President Sirisena emphasised the significance of the assistance of international organisations in developing the war-torn areas to build infrastructure, improve access to drinking water and eliminate poverty. 

He told the agency representatives that the rehabilitation of close to 88% of people from the Northern and Eastern provinces had been achieved with responsible authorities working towards the remaining 12%. 

He said that the Government would pay special attention to providing solutions to the unemployment of the youth in Northern and Eastern provinces, to address the issue of narcotics through drug control. Special programs are being implemented for this purpose, he said. Representatives from leading international donor agencies, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) participated in this meeting. 

President Sirisena said that it was important to receive the contribution of all the political representatives for the development process conducted by the current government in the Northern and Eastern provinces and that it was his motive to see the success of these objectives of development and reconciliation.

President Sirisena informed the representatives that he had received the Interim Report of the Office of the Missing Persons established to look into the missing persons issue yesterday and that a Cabinet Subcommittee would be established to study the report.

The President requested the representatives to support the program conducted for the welfare of the families of missing persons.

He emphasised that the Government was dedicated towards building clean governance free of bribery and corruption.

Secretary to the President Udaya R. Seneviratne, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance R.H.S. Samaratunga and other government officers were present at this event.

Meanwhile, newly-appointed UN Resident Coordinator Designate Hanaa Singer called on President Maithripala Sirisena at the President’s official residence on Wednesday (5).