FM thanks Belgium for tsunami relief, other assistance

BELGIUM: Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama had an audience with Princess Astrid on September 4 at the Royal Palace in Brussels. Princess Astrid visited Sri Lanka after tsunami, accompanied by the then Minister of Development Co-operation of Belgium Armand de Decker.

The Minister during his audience with the Princess briefed on the challenges Sri Lanka had to face in the aftermath of the tsunami and took the opportunity to thank the Belgian Government and its people for the outpouring of assistance following the disaster and conveyed the Sri Lankan Government’s appreciation for the role played by Princess Astrid in tsunami relief assistance to Sri Lanka by undertaking projects on the construction of houses in the Southern Province.

In briefing the overall progress that Sri Lanka has made in the post-Tsunami reconstruction phase, Minister Bogollagama informed the Princess that 52% of the houses have been re-constructed and 73% of tsunami IDPs have been re-housed in permanent dwellings and most have had their livelihood returned.

On specific projects undertaken in Sri Lanka by the Belgium Red Cross, of which the Princess is the President. The Minister mentioned the following programmes/projects under tsunami relief and reconstruction in Kalutara and Beruwala areas.

The Beach and House Cleaning - (over 1,000 houses have been cleaned and the surrounding areas of the beach in Kalutara and Beruwela.

House Construction Programme - 214 houses have been completed and occupied, expected to complete 500 houses at the end of this year. 300 more houses to be constructed in 2008 under this programme.

Capacity Building - Programme for supporting affected people through psycho-social programmes for building capacity through volunteer programmes, to improve the economic status of people.

Future Plans - Continue to construct house under the House Construction Programme and to support the Disaster Management Programme along with Sri Lanka Red Cross.

It was also stated that the Belgium Red Cross would continue to construct houses under the housing construction programme and support the disaster management programme in the coming year.

In this context, Minister Bogollagama having briefed on the Government’s efforts to develop Eastern part of Sri Lanka under the ‘Negenahira Navodaya’ Programme and requested for Belgian assistance, in particular to develop the dairy and fisheries sector in the East.

In this context, the Minister informed Princess Astrid that Sri Lanka would be submitting a memorandum requesting entry to the list of countries availing of Belgian development assistance.

The Minister also took this opportunity to invite the Princess to visit Sri Lanka to attend the 60th Independence Day celebrations which falls on February 4, 2008.