ANNUAL POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA AND NORWAY 17-20 FEBRUARY 2003.

THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY

Press Release

The annual political consultations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Norway will take place in Colombo 17-20 February. Hon. Olav Kjørven, Deputy Minister of Development Co-operation, will head the Norwegian delegation. In addition the delegation will comprise of H.E Ambassador Jon Westborg and representatives from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD. Hon Minister Milinda Moragoda and Mr. Charita Ratwatte will head the GOSL delegation.

The purpose of this visit is to continue the dialog with the GOSL on important co-operation programs between our two countries. Norway and Sri Lanka have a long-standing relationship in the field of development co-operation. Norway has assisted Sri Lanka for more than twenty years and has annually funded Sri Lanka with around usd 11 million. More than 75% of this assistance has been channelled through the Government and local authorities to the development of the southern part of the country.

The first session of the political consultations will focus on Economic Development for Employment. Industrial development, investment policies, trade employment and labour issues will be central elements during these talks. The topic for the second session will be “Preparing for and sustaining peace” and will include discussions on immediate humanitarian needs, rehabilitation, post conflict reconstruction and development.

On Wednesday 19 February Deputy Minister Kjørven is planning to visit Sri Lankan Norwegian joint ventures. Mr. Kjørven will travel to Galle to visit a Solid Waste Management Project supported by NORAD. He will also meet with the Governor of the Southern Province and have a discussion on private sector development with five district chambers of commerce. Deputy Minister Kjørven will during his visit also meet with international organisations and representatives from the Sri Lankan civil society.

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Investment and Education for Development
(January 21, 2011)

Speech by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha at the BizPact Investment Forum, Public Library Jaffna, January 6^th 2010.
Stability and Confidence for Revitalization - entrepreneurship and education amongst the resettled
(January 21, 2011)

The process of resettlement is proceeding apace now, with well over 120,000 persons having gone back to locations in the Northern Province. Of these the more complex returns were to areas previously under the control of the LTTE in sections of Mannar and Vavuniya and in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
Civil Military Liaison - The key to social progress
(January 21, 2011)

In the long hard haul that the process of resettlement has entailed, perhaps the most remarkable factor is the role played by the military. After the enormous effort involved in defeating the LTTE, there was no respite for the soldiers. Instead they have continued to work at a level of intensity that is sadly not recognized.
Overcoming constrictions and tyranny - The oppression of the LTTE in Mullaitivu
(January 21, 2011)

One reason why I suspect reconciliation will be easier in Sri Lanka than in many places that have suffered conflict is the level of suffering inflicted by the LTTE on the Tamil people. There was also an extraordinary hierarchical system, which gave great advantages to the privileged whilst the others had to serve them unquestioningly.
Promoting Contact - English programmes for all communities in the East
(January 21, 2011)

There has been so much interest about resettlement and rebuilding in the North that the East has been comparatively neglected. I had not been there for six months myself, which was sad for that was an area I had been in constantly from the eighties onward.
Making Connections - The revival of Trincomalee
(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee has always struck me as a magical place, and I have often wondered whether we might not all have been much better off had President Jayewardene moved the capital there rather than ten miles down the road from Colombo to a place that had no merit, even in his eyes, except for its name. And, even if that idea might be fanciful, our failure over nearly half a decade to develop decent communications, to improve connections between the different areas of Sri Lanka, has struck me as a mark of monumental foolishness, which certainly contributed to the spread of resentment and then terror.
Individual Innovations and Initiative
(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee is associated in my mind with two individuals, whose life and work continue to provide guidelines for effort. The first was Denzil Kobbekaduwa, who was in charge of the area when I visited in 1988, to check on the schools furniture project. That was the time of the IPKF, and one could sense some tensions, even though in general officers on both sides behaved with perfect conviviality at army headquarters.
Independence Day Celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres
(January 21, 2011)

I was in Vavuniya on Independence Day, to join in celebrations at a couple of the Rehabilitation Centres. These had been planned by the officials administering the camps under the authority of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, but our Confidence Building and Stabilization Measures Project had assisted with the arrangements. Ironically, the main funding we receive, from UNHCR, cannot be used for these youngsters, just as for some strange reason the World Food Programme does not feed them. Fortunately the government is more enlightened and sees these victims of the LTTE’s forced recruitment as deserving of all possible assistance and encouragement.
Returns for the Old and the Recently Displaced
(January 21, 2011)

After the Independence Day celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres in Vavuniya, I visited a couple of areas that had been resettled. I had been particularly anxious to get to the Rice Bowl in Mannar, since that had been the initial target for rapid resettlement. In the days when the hostile claimed that we intended to keep the displaced permanently in Vavuniya, we were well aware that the President was pressing for rapid cultivation by the returnees.
Promoting Prosperity and Reconciliation in Amparai
(January 21, 2011)

I had not been to Amparai for the whole of 2009, so I was wholly unprepared for the tremendous progress the District had registered since my previous visit in the middle of 2008, as Head of the Peace Secretariat. Then the citizens’ committees we met were still worried about security considerations, about restrictions on movement that restrained economic activity, even about the occasional massacre perpetrated by the tiny groups of Tiger guerillas who had survived the clearing of the East.

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