Says Sri Lanka now a middle income country
Any request should come from the country’s top leadership
Visiting Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom yesterday, turned down a request made by Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran to lend special assistance to the Northern and Eastern provinces as Sri Lanka had already achieved middle income status.
Foreign Minister Wallstrom said Sweden was not in a position to lend special assistance to the Northern and Eastern Provinces for his reason . She said this during a meeting with Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran when he requested special assistance from Sweden to the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
The Northern Province Chief Minister who met the visiting Swedish Foreign Minister during her tour of Jaffna had insisted that the North and East needed special foreign aid since the two regions were still in a state of underdevelopment despite the lapse of seven years after the ending of the war. The Foreign Minister had replied that if Sweden was to extend such special assistance, the decision should be made by the country’s high level leadership.
During discussions on the political situation Chief Minister Wigneswaran had said establishment of democratic values was clearly visible in the country at present. He also pointed out that he had requested the government to grant a federal type of administration to the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Margot Wallstrom had asked him whether it would succeed given the vehement opposition to the proposal by the people and parties in the South. Wigneswaran had replied that history showed that several agreements had been made in the past to grant federal status to the North and East. Margot Wallstrom had said that she expected the opposition to the proposal from the South to wane systematically with the passage of time when the political forces in the South slowly begin to understand the situation in the country.
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