Rajpaksa calls LTTE to resume peace talks

Colombo, Nov 16 (UNI) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today once again invited the Tamil Tiger rebels to resume the stalled direct peace talks with his coalition government and urged to end the bloody ethnic conflict.

President Rajapaksa made this call to the LTTE during his speech in Parliament after presenting the 2007 budget as the Minister of Finance here today amidst tight security.

''I once again invite the LTTE to resume direct peace talks to find a negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict,'' the President said during his speech in Parliament on the budget which projects a 45 per cent increase in the country's defence spending for the financial next year.

The budget estimates placed before Parliament projected that defence spending would jump to 139.55 billion rupees in the next 12 months from an estimated this year's 6.21 billion rupees.

Claiming that the LTTE had ''unleashed violent attacks against the government security forces few days after he became the President last November'', the President, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and Minister of Defence, said his government was forced to take some specific security measures to ensure the national security.

The escalating truce-related violence has claimed over 3,000 lives since December last year.

Hailing the efforts by the international community to assist the Norwegian-brokered peace process, the President said his coalition government is ''committed to peace and ready to consider all reasonable solutions'' to the minority issues.

President Rajapaksa's second term is mainly focusing on infrastructure development, provincial development and social welfare while promoting local and foreign investment.

The 2006 budget deficit is projected at 9.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while the deficit for 2007 is estimated at 7.5 per cent of GDP.

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