|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
US, Lankan politicians have much in common - Kadirgamar Minister of Information and Telecommunication, Senior Advisor to the President on Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar said the politicians of the United States of America and Sri Lanka have much in common.Both breeds have a habit of making promises which they have no intention to fulfil. In both countries the members of the Government and the Opposition systematically behave like a pack of rowdy schoolboys. The press in both countries is free, intrusive raucous and no respecter of persons. God bless them. They claim to have a divine mission to reveal their version of the truth. Minister Kadirgamar was delivering his inaugural address at a two-day seminar titled `The role of the United States in South Asia,' held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall on 19 and 20 March. The seminar was jointly organised by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) and the United States-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission. Several leading academics, diplomats and journalists from the USA, India, Bangladesh and Nepal participated at the two-day seminar where the various issues with regard to US relations in South Asia were discussed and analyzed extensively. The US envoy in Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission was the Chief Guest. Minister Kadirgamar in his address further said that the seminar was a milestone because never before had a seminar on the USA of such reach and depth been conducted by the BCIS with the participation of several international personalities. "Indeed, I am given to understand that no comparable seminar has been held in Sri Lanka in recent memory if at all," he said. Former US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Prof. Karl F. Inderfurth making his address under the theme of South Asia Today: Promise and Peril' said: "Since 1995 the US Mine Action Program has invested more than $ 3 million to help clear land mines and train Sri Lankans in modern de mining techniques. And I understand that more help has recently arrived in the form of CC Trusty, Hannah and three other mine detecting dogs that will speed de mining operations in Sri Lanka and enhance the peace process by benefitting Tamil and Sinhalese and Muslim communities alike. I would hope that in the remaining months of the Bush administration, and before the Presidential election draws too near that Sri Lankan leaders take advantage of the high level involvement and interest that exists in Washington to assist with the peace process and reconstructions". Former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Shafi Sami, leading Nepal journalist Kunda Dixit and former New York Times bureau chief for South Asia Barbra Crosstte were among the lead speakers who participated at the seminar. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
