Donors pledge 4.5 billion dollars for development: Lanka

Colombo, Jan 31 (UNI) The Sri Lankan government claimed that its international donor development partners have pledged 4.5 billion dollars to implement its new development projects for the next three years.

''The Sri Lanka Development Forum has announced new development assistance over 2007-2009 would be in the region of 4.5 billion dollar,'' Sri Lanka's Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Dr Sarath Amunugama said at the conclusion of the two-day deliberations with nearly 350 members from over 50 donor countries and agencies in the Southern port city of Galle yesterday.

The Forum was held under the chairmanship of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, where the government presented a detailed account of the ten year development framework and related issues such as the political economy, post tsunami recovery challenges, security, law and order, conflict, terrorism and peace, human rights, humanitarian and resettlement challenges and so on.

''They (donors) were of the view that though somewhat ambitious, the country has the potential to reach these goals, with the implementation of the government's development programme, while pursuing a lasting solution to the conflict,'' a government statement quoted Dr Amunugama as saying.

The government claim has come a day after the donor community warned the government against the military solution and urged President Rajapaksa to pursue a power sharing deal with the Tamil Tigers to achieve lasting peace via sustainable economic development.

At the opening ceremony of the development forum, the key donors such as the US, Japan and World Bank said that no amount of development assistance by any donor country can have any lasting impact without finding a permanent solution to the conflict.

The government statement, however, said the government and the development partners agreed that ''terrorism should be separated from finding a solution to the conflict and that a lasting solution should be found through a negotiated settlement''.

''Both the government and the development partners recognised with serious concern the humanitarian suffering associated with the violence and the need to provide fastest possible relief to the affected,'' the statement said.

UNI