Britain mulls new defence pact with SL

Visiting State Minister says military training to be considered:

Says British Govt. providing additional £ 6.6m for HR programs:

by Manjula Fernando

In an effort to renew enhanced bi-lateral cooperation with Sri Lanka, the visiting British State Minister for Asia, Hugo Swire, said the British Government is considering a new defence pact with Sri Lanka.

He said the British administration was keen to re-engage with Sri Lanka at a “defence level” and said, their current effort is to help the Sri Lanka Army with human rights training. However, he said other options such as military training can be considered as bilateral ties improve.

Addressing reporters in Colombo prior to his departure, the Minister said UK’s Delhi-based non- resident defence attache has been summoned to Colombo to assist in human rights training for the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Swire said, “We are in the early stages of seeing how we can help the Sri Lanka Army learn how it can operate as a modern army in a democratic country.”

The British Government has extended additional Sterling Pounds 6.6 mn, under its commitment made in Geneva last September, to assist Sri Lanka in implementing reconciliation and human rights-related programs. The funds will be released over three years.

Congratulating Sri Lanka over the vast progress the country has made since the Presidential Election a year ago, the visiting British Minister said he was returning with ‘great deal of optimism’ that Sri Lanka will reach its fullest potential as a land of peace and prosperity for all its people.

He said the UK administration wished to help Sri Lanka regain its GSP status for fish exports to Europe, and added his country was also keen to work with Sri Lanka to speed up the process that needs Colombo to fulfill a few more criteria. “These are all achievable targets,” he assured.

Swire also said the United Kingdom was keen to see Sri Lanka take up an additional share of responsibility in international peacekeeping, given its status as a friendly country. On the investment front, he said, the British companies were queuing to grab more than one billion Pound worth of business opportunities here. He, however, warned that the country needs to address its corruption indicators to project itself as a better investment hub. The officials from the Serious Fraud Office of UK have extended technical support to get a process underway to address this issue, he said.

The British Minister from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office arrived on Thursday (14) on his third visit to the island and the second within the past 12 months.

During his stay, Swire held discussions with President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Managala Samaraweera as well as opposition politicians and civil society groups. He also took part in national celebrations on Thai Pongal in Jaffna on Friday (15) and wrapped up his visit by attending the Galle Literary Festival yesterday (16).