European parliamentarians call on Foreign Minister

Recognising the imperative need to meet the challenges of the food and energy crises faced world over, the forthcoming SAARC Summit will provide a platform to discuss the establishment of a mechanism to harness and share resources within the region, which would enable the effective use of the available resources, said Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday.

The Minister expressed these sentiments when he met a ten-member delegation from the European Parliament handling relations with the countries of South Asia, who are on a five-day visit to Sri Lanka. He further said that such sharing would further facilitate connectivity amongst the South Asian nations.

The Foreign Minister said many South Asian countries are not food exporters and according to forecasts, the region would have a surplus of food by 2009. However, he said that there is a need for post harvest techniques to be developed to sustain food stocks for a longer period of time.

While having buffer stocks of food, he underscored the importance of establishing a food crisis fund for the region, to ease any future problems which may occur on the supply of food.

Referring to the energy crisis the Minister observed that while the South Asian countries are nett importers of oil, 45 per cent of the hydro-power generated within the region could be shared. In this context, the need for examining alternate sources of energy was emphasised.

Minister Bogollagama outlined to the European Parliamentarians that there would be a major focus on the observer member States to enhance their relationship with the member countries of SAARC. To this end an informal working discussion at Ministerial level has been scheduled, he said.

He hoped that the European Union, which is an observer, would be represented at high level. The European Parliamentarians were also of the view that the Union required to participate at Ministerial level since the South Asian region is of much importance to Europe.

Discussing the situation and progress in the Eastern Province Foreign Minister Bogollagama informed that significant developments and achievements had taken place within a year, culminating in the people electing their own representatives both at local and provincial levels thereby reestablishing democratic institutions after almost one and a half decades.

The current road map for the Eastern Province is marked by democratic institution building, he said. The process of devolution as embodied in the 13th Amendment of the Constitution was explained to the visiting delegation by the Minister. He pointed out that due to post conflict development, people in the East were becoming empowered through the engagement in medium and small scale industries.

He further referred to the recent visit of the UK State Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Lord Malloch Brown who during his visit to the East last week, was impressed by the developments which have taken place in the region.