A new approach to economy from UPFA - campaign coordinator

"Mahinda Chintana" embodies a new approach to our economy and a new vision of utilising foreign aid in order to usher in a multitude of benefits for the people including public servants, farmers, entrepreneurs and various other segments who form the citizenry of this country, the UPFA Presidential Election Propaganda Coordinator Office in a media release said yesterday.

It said that Opposition Leader and Presidential Candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to obtain foreign aid amounting to Rs.45 billion at the Tokyo Donor Conference in April 2003 on several conditions. These included selling the Sinharaja Forests, abolishing Samurdhi, privatising agricultural industries and selling out state lands, under a plan called "Regain Sri Lanka".

Ranil Wickremesinghe, at recent public rallies held in Anuradhapura area attempted to put the blame for this on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and the JVP but this public announcement boomeranged because during the relevant period, Wickremesinghe was steering the peace process as the executive Prime Minister of this country. The LTTE boycotted this Conference.

The Rs.45 billion aid promised by the Donor Countries at the Tokyo Conference was by way of a loan.

The United People's Freedom Alliance under the leadership of the SLFP and the JVP came in to power on April 02, 2004. That was one year after the Tokyo Donor Conference of April 2003.

In contrast to the loan of Rs.45 billion promised at the Tokyo Aid Conference, the UPFA Government at the subsequent Sri Lanka Aid Group Conference held in Kandy obtained Rs.300 billion not as a loan but by way of an outright grant. That was a grant not accompanied by a betrayal of the country or a peace process ensuring a separate state for the LTTE, the release said.