Lanka achieved a milestone when LTTE was defeated - Blake

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said that Sri Lanka achieved a milestone when the Government successfully defeated the LTTE in May 2009 ending the three-decade long conflict.

Addressing the emerging role of U.S. foreign policy in South Asia at the San Diego World Affairs Council, California he said: "I have returned to Sri Lanka several times since the end of the war and observed a renewed sense of purpose among its people," he said.Speaking about the US foreign policy, which is switching its heavily Europe -focused policy to Asia, mainly India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, he said the US needed to focus on other South Asian countries too.

"But even though India, Pakistan and Afghanistan receive much of the focus from the news media and foreign policy analysts, they should not overshadow recent developments in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan that have positive ramifications for the region", Blake, the former US Ambassador in Sri Lanka, said. He cited the recent end to devastating civil wars in Sri Lanka and Nepal that have ushered in new eras of peace, reconciliation and prosperity.

"In the past 15 months, Sri Lanka's stock market has risen 'an astounding 150 percent' to become the highest performing stock market in Asia" he said.