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| Sunday, 1 December 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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US$ 70m in aid for Sri Lanka The countries participating at the Sri Lanka Donor Conference in Norway last week pledged around US$ 70 million as emergency aid. Around 40 countries took part in the conference. It is the largest ever Sri Lanka-specific international conference. The donors recognised that Sri Lanka's North and East had special problems, but the aid is given for the whole country. The monies are in addition to the aid given both bilaterally and multilaterally. The countries who pledged aid include UK (4.1 million pounds), USA (8.3 million dollars), European Union (37.3 million euros), Canada (two million dollars), Japan (2.86 million dollars), Norway (105 million Norwegian Kroner) and Denmark (600 million kroners). The Government delegation for the conference was led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and included Ministers G.L. Peiris, Milinda Moragoda and Rauff Hakeem. The LTTE delegation was led by its chief negotiator Anton Balasingham. The full-fledged donor meeting will be held mid-2003 in Tokyo where a large-scale development fund for Sri Lanka is expected to be pledged by the international community. The Prime Minister told the donors that the economy was recovering and the people were enjoying the benefits of a re-discovered freedom. "But with these signs, there comes a risk. People are demanding permanent peace and the politicians and negotiators on both sides have to deliver," he said. The host for the meeting, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen called on the international community to work towards helping Sri Lanka so that all its people would reap the peace dividend. |
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