An IMF consultative mission accompanied by E.H. Liyanage of the Economic Research Department from the Central Bank met Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda at his office recently.

The International Monetary Fund mission, headed by Olin Liu discussed with the Minister, the projects formulated by the Ministry for Implementation in the North-East Provinces for the year 2007.

The Minister also made it a point to hand over the proposed programmes of the Ministry for the North-East provinces to the Visiting Team for the year 2007.

Together with the proposed programmes, the Minister handed to the visiting IMF team the expenditure estimates of the projects concerning Tamil School Development, Vocational Training, Co-ordination and Implementation of Social Development, Community Based Rehabilitation, Social Development Management Information System, Social Development, Empowering Single Parent Families through Self-Employment, National Counselling programmes and those of National Institute of Social Development (NISD), Social Security Board (SSB), Social Care Centres (SCC), National Council for Person with Disabilities (NCPD), Social Services Department (SSD) and National Secretariat for Elders (NSE) as well as the grant of allocation to Jaffna District.

The Minister also drove his point home to the visiting team of the necessity of putting in place a special programme to underpin the implementation of the proposed projects in the North and East Provinces due to the ongoing civil war.

He stressed the urgent necessity of a replanting drive of the palmyrah palm as an innumerable number of trees have been cut dawn for erecting of bunkers by the LTTE. The palmyrah tree has been of immense value to the people of North and East, the Minister added.