Plenty of natural resources to make country self-sufficient - PM

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

COLOMBO: “We have to make this country self-sufficient because we cannot totally depend on foreign aid and we have plenty of natural resources to do it,” Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayke told the student leaders leaving the country for the Future Leaders Summit-2007 in the USA.

The meeting was held at Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday. He was answering questions raised by the young leaders on current issues related to the topics they would be discussing at the Summit. Some of the topics given to them included terrorism, human rights, health, environment and international relations.

Explaining about the security situation, he said that devolution must take place and that war is not the only way to eradicate terrorism. He insisted that military operations are carried out against the terrorists and not the Tamil people.

The delegation comprised fifty-eight delegates from 12 schools who have debating skills. Every year, this programme titled Presidential Classroom brings together 550 student leaders from 45 countries to this Summit to explore international relations, diplomacy and the changing world economy.

Sri Lanka has been participating as a country delegation since 2000. The South Asia representative for Presidential Classroom USA who introduced this programme to Sri Lanka was also present.