Kadirgamar assures full cooperation :

UK keen on faster repatriation of failed asylum seekers

A British Home Office delegation will visit Sri Lanka shortly to explore ways and means of repatriating failed asylum seekers in Britain.

British Secretary of State Jack Straw referring to the repatriation of failed asylum seekers, pointed out that the rate of absorption of such persons has been too slow and recognised Sri Lanka's requirement for the establishment of nationality, prior to repatriation. Appreciating Britain's preoccupation on this issue, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar informed that Sri Lanka would make a concerted effort in overcoming the related problems, a Foreign Ministry release said yesterday.

Kadirgamar upheld the relief assistance and support of the British Government and people as being magnificent, and conveyed the Sri Lankan Government's appreciation, when he met Straw at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on March 4. Referring to the types of assistance, he was extremely appreciative of the British Government undertaking to absorb Sri Lanka's debt payments to multilateral agencies over a 10 year period, amounting to $ 80 million. He pointed out that this would release a considerable financial burden for Sri Lanka and observed it to be a magnanimous gesture in the two countries' bilateral relations.

Discussing the issue of the LTTE's air power capabilities, Secretary of State Straw was fully conversant on the danger of having unauthorised aircrafts in the hands of non state actors in the context of terrorism.

The British Minister appreciating the seriousness, undertook to work on this issue. Minister Kadirgamar outlined that he had addressed his counterparts in the US, China, Japan, France, Russia, India, Norway and the European Union, on this subject.