Australia pledges support towards Sri Lanka’s economic stability
Chaminda Perera
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr yesterday promised support to
Sri Lanka to achieve economic stability.
Carr on a three day official visit to Sri Lanka, made this
announcement when he met Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa
at the latter’s office in Colombo yesterday.
The discussions focused on many issues of mutual interest including
human smuggling and demining.
Australian Foreign Minister
Bob Carr |
Minister Rajapaksa said the demining process in the North and East
Provinces was nearing completion.
The minister said over 95 percent of the land area dotted with mines,
have been cleared so far.
He said the clearing of the remaining mines will take sometime as the
area earmarked for demining is presumed to be dotted with unexploded
mines heavily.
The minister said many people in the area collecting metals were
injured by unexploded ordnance.
He said the government’s programme to make people aware of mines
continues unabated.
Carr said Australia will extend assistance for mine clearance
activities in the North and East during the next year too.
Minister Rajapaksa said the people are being resettled in mine
cleared areas with the assistance of the Australian government and a
number of programmes are in progress to uplift their living standards.
The minister said Australia has encouraged the Sri Lankan government
to develop the dairy industry. He thanked the Australian government for
providing 500 milch cows to promote dairy farming under the Mahinda
Chinthana policy framework.
He said the cows would be provided to farmers at fair prices through
artificial insemination of milch cows brought from Australia. Minister
Rajapaksa said the government’s target is to become self-sufficient in
dairy milk production by 2016.
He said the government expects assistance from the World Bank and the
Australian government to develop 5,000 primary schools and 1,000
secondary schools islandwide with the objective of achieving knowledge
based development goals.
The Australian Foreign Minister said his country is prepared to
provide US $ 36 million to uplift Sri Lanka’s education sector.
He believed that creating more opportunities for education in the
country will help reduce illegal migration among youths.
Minister Rajapaksa also touched on bilateral investment opportunities
at the meeting.
He said many passengers coming from Europe and Middle Eastern
countries are inconvenienced due to the lack of direct flights to Sri
Lanka.
He said the government is discussing to introduce direct flights from
Europe and the Middle Eastern region.
Minister Rajapaska also stressed the importance of starting direct
flights from Australia and Sri Lanka.
He was of the view that this would help boost the tourism industry
too.
Australian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Robyn Mudie, Sri Lankan
High Commissioner in Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, Commerce
and Industry Ministry Secretary Anura Siriwardena and Australian High
Commission protocol officer James Lasan were also present.
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