Sunday, April 22, 2012

SL delegation to Washington includes Namal and Sajin Vas

The Sri Lankan delegation to Washington DC in May, in response to an invitation by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to further engage on reconciliation processes and accountability issues will include External Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, Ministry of External Affairs Monitoring MP SajinVaasGunewardane, UPFA Hambantota District MP NamalRajapaksa and Presidential Secretary LalithWeeratunge, Ceylon Today learns.
 
Minister Peiris was invited for talks to the US in January this year, when Secretary Clinton informed the Sri Lankan government that the US would be bringing a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.

Additional Secretary to the UN at the Ministry of External Affairs, KshenukaSeneviratnehas been preparing a roadmap for the implementation of the LLRC report as called for in the UNHRC resolution to be presented to Secretary Clinton in May. Seneviratne has prepared the ‘road map’ in collaboration with a young and dynamic team that included MP NamalRajapaksa.
 
Meanwhile, former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Teresita C. Schaffer, in an interview with Ceylon Today said that during Minister Peiris’ scheduled visit to Washington, the US hopes for a serious discussion on the full range of US-Sri Lankan issues. “It would be a discussion on the business and foreign policy issues we normally discuss but also the status of reconciliation efforts and the LLRC recommendations. I can’t speak for the US government but assume that the US will convey that it wants to work with Sri Lanka on the full range of issues, including those contained in the LLRC recommendations,” Schaffer said.
CT