Defeating terrorism :

Army to share its experience

The Army Commander

The Sri Lanka Army will host an international seminar on defeating terrorism with the participation of military officials of 54 countries. The seminar will share Army’s experience in defeating the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization, Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said.

Addressing a press briefing at the Army Headquarters the Army Commander stated that the three day seminar, “International Seminar on Defeating Terrorism-Sri Lanka Experience” organized under the guidance of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will commence on May 31 at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo.

The Army Commander further stated that the seminar will be focused on counter measures against global terrorism, terrorist trends, predominance of both political and military efforts, rapid resettlement, reconciliation moves, nation building and threats to national and international security concerns.

The Commander also stated that the seminar is also to review how the Sri Lankan approach transcended beyond the traditional approach and succeeded in defeating the LTTE learning from one years of fighting the insurgency. Speaking at the briefing the Commander said that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that defeated terrorism so far in this century.

He added that the entire world has acknowledged the Army’s achievement and is keen to share the knowledge and the expertise gained by Sri Lankan Army. The Army Commander further stated that everything is being finalized and the invitations will be sent to the delegates through the Foreign Ministry. Already the Sri Lanka Defence Attache in India has confirmed the participation of 30 defence attaches of various countries in India.

He also stated that the Sri Lankan high ranking officials with first-hand experience in the humanitarian operation as well as foreign military heads dealing with international terrorism will take part as the speakers. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundara and External Affairs Minister Pro. GL Pieris will also participate as speakers at the seminar.

A website of defenseseminar.lk - will be launched in the second week of February and will be updated daily.

SM