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The government will look positively at the proposals put forward by the LTTE and will do everything in its power to keep the peace process moving forward to a successful conclusion, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday in New York.

Addressing the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said: "Within the next few weeks we should know the results of a comprehensive review undertaken by the LTTE in response to our earlier proposals regarding an interim administrative arrangement for the North and East of our country.

That they should take so much time and effort can be sen as a positive sign."

The Prime Minister said that collective efforts, handsomely supported by the international community and the multilateral agencies, at providing relief, rehabilitation and development to the conflict affected areas of the country proceeds apace. "Economic growth is marching ahead from a negative growth of - one per cent in the year 2001 to possibly 6% this year and tourism is booming."

Excerpts from the Prime Minister's speech: "The role of the international community in enabling us to move form war to peace has been outstanding. The facilitation that Norway provided, has resulted in bringing the Government and LTTE together in several rounds of negotiation. President Chandrika Kumaratunga's continuing declaration of commitment to a political solution has been invaluable.

"The moral and material support which our other front line sponsors - India, the EU, Japan, Canada and the US along with the multilateral institutions of the UN and the rest of the international community have given, and continue to give us, has guaranteed that our efforts to consolidate and maintain the peace will strengthen and develop.

"The progress of the peace process in Sri Lanka is because we stopped talking about talking to each other - we started doing the talking. We have been lucky because the international community did not simply talk about helping us - they did it.

"In moving from conflict to peace in Sri Lanka we initiated fundamental changes in policy and strategy.

We shifted from confrontation to negotiation, identifying and recognising the root causes of the conflict. The success story that Sri Lanka is fast becoming also demonstrates the value of the support of the international community acting in concert.

That the global community moving with a common purpose can succeed in re-establishing peace, democracy and prosperity has been amply demonstrated in the Sri Lankan experience. After 20 years of conflict our people are now enjoying the fruits of 20 months of peace.

"In Oslo last November our international partners endorsed and underwrote a paradigm shift in policy when the Government and LTTE accepted that the future political order in Sri Lankan would include moving towards a federal polity where the unity and territorial integrity of the country would be ensured.

"Again, in Tokyo in June this year, 52 nations and 21 multilateral agencies, many of them of the UN system, pledged their support to Sri Lanka's peace efforts, rehabilitation and development programmes. The massive, and unparalleled, financial contributions alone totalled US$4.5 billion over a four-year period. These are indeed landmark events underlining the value and strength of international action."

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