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All-party committee for reconciliation in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced his intention to appoint an All-Party Committee (APC) for development and reconciliation work in the country, even as Colombo on Wednesday said it had granted Chinese companies an economic zone; giving a specific area to a foreign country for the first time to attract foreign investments.

The Presidential Secretariat said the proposed APC would discuss in depth issues and priorities in development and emerging political trends in the post-Prabakaran era.

The committee, which would meet once every month under the chairmanship of Mr. Rajapaksa, would function “especially in the context of the new development needs following the defeat of the LTTE, and the need for national reconciliation in the new era of peace”.

A statement on the Chinese economic zone said China’s Huichen Investment Holdings Limited would bring new investments into the Mirigama zone, 55 km from Colombo, for a period of 33 years.

“Over next three years, Huichen will invest $28 million to develop roads, power and sewerage facilities in the zone. The government also plans to carve out economic zones in the former war-scarred northern town, Kilinochchi, as well as in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara in the East,” it said.

The Foreign Office welcomed initiatives to promote trade and investment among member-states within the framework of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) during its Council of Ministers’ Meeting in Sana’a, Yemen.

The IOR-ARC “may proceed on the basis that a Preferential Trade Arrangement is an instrument to foster and enhance the promotion of trade flows in the region by removing impediments,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hussain Bhaila, who led the Sri Lankan delegation at the conference.

He, however, cautioned that “mutually beneficial trade” must be promoted, taking into account “the economic asymmetries among member-states”.

Mr. Bhaila commended the moves to share information among member-states on trade, finance, investment regimes, intellectual property, procurement procedures, customs regulations and quarantine requirements to reach harmonisation of standards as “welcome first steps in intra-regional trade facilitation”.

Separately, visiting Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi commended the government’s efforts to improve facilities for the war displaced.

His visit was on the invitation of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to address the inaugural session of the “Sri Lanka Economic Summit”. He also met Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.

Referring to a meeting with the President earlier in the day, Mr. Akashi said the discussion was encouraging and progressive.

While acknowledging the enormity of the task of de-mining and normalising living conditions of the war displaced, he urged the government to expedite the process of resettlement.

Mr. Bogollagama, while acknowledging the need for further improvement in the facilities for war displaced, said it was the government’s priority to look into the needs of the displaced persons and assisting in restoring their livelihood.

Mr. Bogollagama said the President was fully committed to a political process that would lead to a lasting solution to the conflict, including implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

On Wednesday, Mr. Bogollagama commenced a four-day visit to China on an invitation for bilateral consultations with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Mr. Bogollagama is scheduled to speak on “Post-conflict Sri Lanka and the way ahead” at the prestigious China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). He will meet the business community and the Sri Lankan expatriate community in China during his visit.

Meanwhile, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Peter Hayes, announced that U.K. had approved a grant of £5,00,000 to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for an emergency measles and polio vaccination campaign.

In another development, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it closed its office in Ampara town July1, but would continue its humanitarian work in the Ampara district from an office in the coastal town of Akkaraipattu.

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