External Affairs Minister meets Indian Ministers

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony met with several senior Indian Government personalities.

On the morning of October 14, Minister Peiris met with his Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, for a very cordial and constructive review of bilateral relations. The discussion between the two Ministers served as a curtain raiser to the forthcoming sessions of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission that will take place, when Minister Krishna visits Sri Lanka later this year.

Prof. Peiris called on Indian Home Affairs Minister P Chidambaram on October 15. The Home Minister and Prof Peiris discussed the progress with regard to the program of 50,000 houses to be built in the formerly conflict affected areas, through Indian grant funds.

Minister Peiris briefed that the allocation of State lands for the construction of 1,000 houses in a cluster format for the use of widows or single headed families, was underway. The rest of the program would relate both to the construction of 32,000 houses on an owner-driven basis on private land, as well as to the repair of 17,000 damaged houses.

Later that day, Minister Peiris met with Indian Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, to discuss collaboration in the education sphere, especially in relation to the assistance being received from India towards the realization President Rajapaksa’s vision for the coming into being of a trilingual society in Sri Lanka. Prof. Peiris expressed his appreciation of the assurance by Minister Sibal, that India would strongly be engaged in this effort.

Prof. Peiris’s third bilateral meeting on that day was with the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma. The two Ministers included in their discussion issues pertaining to further strengthening of the trade and economic relationship between the two nations. They agreed that the forthcoming establishment of a Forum of Chief Executive Officers, which would include leading entrepreneurs of both countries, would assist both to iron-out any problems and also to identify a sound and mutually beneficial path for the years ahead.

Minister Peiris concluded his engagements on the 15th by delivering the prestigious R K Mishra Memorial Lecture under the auspices of the Observer Research Foundation, on the theme of ‘Growth, Equity and Security: Constitutional Imperatives for South Asia’.

Prof. Peiris addressed representatives of leading media institutions, think-tanks and the diplomatic community in New Delhi at the Sri Lanka High Commission on October 16 concerning the new era of opportunities that has now dawned in Sri Lanka.