President declares 2012 as Trilingual Year

Former Indian President special guest at launch:

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

The President has decided to declare year 2012 as the Year for Trilingual Sri Lanka, said External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L.Peiris. He was addressing the Inaugural National Reconciliation Conference at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies yesterday.

A summit on Trilingual Sri Lanka Year will be held in January with the participation of former Indian President Abdul Kalam and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.

"We are ready to work closely with the international community when we work on reconciliation matters. We don't want to be isolated. But the international community should not force on the direction we must take on reconciliation. It is only if they like to deal with us with a suitable attitude that we can work with them in a fruitful manner," the minister said.

"Sometimes we feel that some powerful countries take one side without considering the other side. Darusman report is a good example. Authorities made comments on it without considering the documents that Sri Lanka submitted. We are ready to listen to fruitful comments and at the same time appreciation is also important. Sri Lanka was appreciated at the recent SAARC summit due to the measures that have been taken by the government to avoid illegal migrations," Prof Peiris said.

"We like to get support from the Tamil diaspora for development activities of the Northern and Eastern Provinces," the minister said.

"We invite the international community to visit the Northern and Eastern Provinces and see the development launched by the government. Delegations from Germany and Japan have already visited these areas.

"We also invite representatives of the European Union and Australia to visit Sri Lanka," he said.