Blake visit ends on positive note

Rasika SOMARATHNA

US Assistant Secretary of State Robert 'O' Blake told media in Colombo yesterday that he had met members of the Tamil diaspora in the United States and encouraged them to invest and support the development initiatives in Sri Lanka.

He said that the attitude of the Tamil diaspora was changing and that they were more interested in contributing to the ongoing efforts at economic development\ rebuilding and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

He added that the US welcomed the defeat of the LTTE last year and noted "the US has long been a friend of Sri Lanka and we hope to build on that friendship"

Blake also said "With President Mahinda Rajapaksa's impressive victory in the recent Presidential elections and his party's equally strong showing in the Parliamentary elections, Sri Lanka now has a unique opportunity to forge lasting peace and prosperity after decades of war. Achieving reconciliation will be a key element in such peace," he said

Blake who ended a brief visit to Sri Lanka yesterday also said that the US would continue to be a leading donor in providing humanitarian aid for the IDPs, supporting de-mining, initiating programs to provide jobs for returning IDPs and catalyzing new private sector investments in the North to provide new economic opportunities.

He also said that the US had provided Sri Lanka US $ 140 million as aid during the last two years.

Briefing on the outcome of his visit Blake said that during his stay he had a very productive series of meetings with President Rajapaksa, External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L Peiris, other Government members, business community, opposition leaders and members of civil society. Blake, added that his talks with the President were very productive and had discussed matters relating to reconciliation, governance and possible changes to the Constitution among other matters.

He also voiced satisfaction on the progress made in IDP resettlement and added that bringing down the numbers from about 280,000 to 37,000 in a short period was very satisfactory.. Commenting on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Blake said that Secretary Clinton had told Minister G.L. Peiris last May that the Commission holds promise and we hope and expect that it will fulfill that promise.

Answering queries from the Media on the UN Panel set by its Secretary General, Blake said that it was primarily an advisory panel to the UNSG and not one which had functions going beyond that.