Sri Lanka-UK:

Business relations to be strengthened

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Alistair Burt with External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris and British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Alistair Burt, agreed to further strengthen Sri Lanka - UK bilateral relations in a number of areas, particularly in the field of trade and business during their meeting on Tuesday at the External Affairs Ministry. Minister Peiris referred to the existing strong business links between the two countries and stated that this was an appropriate area to be further explored and developed given the current positive post-conflict environment in the country.

Minister Peiris also provided the visiting British Minister with an overview of the significant progress made with regard to resettlement, rehabilitation and development, particularly in the North of the country following the end of the conflict. Reconciliation among civilians was an important aspect of the recovery process and he briefed Burt on the action taken by the Government to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) through the Inter-Agency Advisory Committee (IAAC).

Burt agreed that the relations between the two countries were multi-dimensional, and that his visit offered an opportunity to focus on the trade and business aspects, among others. As this was his first visit to Sri Lanka, it had also provided him with an ideal opportunity to witness developments first-hand.

He stressed that much progress has been made, though challenges still remained. He also stated that the UK was ready to help Sri Lanka in moving forward and informed that the UK had allocated a further 3 million pounds for demining purposes in addition to the allocation of 13.5 million pounds as humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka. During his two day visit to Sri Lanka, Minister Burt also met Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.