US$ 7.4m Japanese grant to IDP welfare

Chamikara Weerasinghe

The biggest donor country to Sri Lanka, Japan yesterday handed over 6,300 metric tonnes of rice and 130 mt of canned fish worth of US$ 7.4 million to Sri Lanka in a gesture of goodwill to assist internally displaced persons in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Kunio Takahashi officially handed over the goods to Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP on behalf of the Japanese Government.

Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development Ministry Secretary W.K.K. Kumarasiri thanked Takahashi stating, "This donation by your government is very timely and will provide much needed food commodities for the on-going emergency program in the North.

We appreciate this gesture of goodwill from the Japanese community." Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) also welcomed the move by the Japanese government.

WFP Country Director Adnan Khan commending the Japanese Government said," the donation will feed and assist nearly 280,000 internally displaced persons, many of who have experienced multi-displacements in the North and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka."

Khan said , the Japanese donation of rice and canned fish is enough to feed the beneficiaries for more than three months.