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White Paper for Oslo donor parley

by Florence Wickramage and Rajmi Manatunga

The Government will submit a White Paper to the November 25 donor conference in Oslo which will identify key areas for the country's development.

Cabinet spokesman Minister Professor G.L. Peiris said the international community uniformly supported the peace process. The government intends to convert this goodwill into financial terms and it was important to utilise the funds rapidly.

Professor Peiris emphasised that the government was anxious to derive the fullest benefits for the country. The White Paper published yesterday outlines priority areas for which the government seeks donor support.

Among the priorities identified are Housing, Infrastructure Development, Roads, Irrigation systems, Hospitals, Schools, Community Development and Women and Children affected by war.

Professor Peiris said the Prime Minister was discussing with several Ministers to set up mechanisms which could cut across some of the bureaucratic delays and problems which would ensure that these resources would be converted very swiftly into a peace dividend.

The Sri Lankan delegation to the Oslo Conference will be led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE delegation by Dr. Anton Balasingham. Professor Peiris said there would be an opportunity for the Prime Minister and Dr. Balasingham to discuss the progress of the peace talks and other political issues.

The Oslo meeting will be attended by all major donor countries including the UK, USA and Japan who had been closely following the progress of the peace talks in Thailand. The US will be represented by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and the UK by International Development Secretary Clare Short.

This will be followed by a bigger donor meeting in Tokyo, Japan. The Japanese government recently sent one of its top envoys Yasushi Akashi to Sri Lanka to gain first hand knowledge of the peace process and begin preparatory work for the Tokyo conference.

During the second round of peace talks in Thailand, the government and the LTTE agreed to certain structures for the deployment of funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the North which Prof. Peiris said would receive the full approval of the donor countries.

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