Foreign Minister briefs Mission Heads on APRC proposals 
[Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 9.05 GMT]     

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama briefed Heads of Missions and Co-Chairs of the Donor Conference, Norway, US, EU and Japan on APRC proposals today (January 24). 

At a subsequent media briefing in Colombo this afternoon Foreign Minister said that the international community must recognize that these are not proposals aimed at meeting the demands of the LTTE terrorists, but to meet the aspirations of the long suffering people of the North and the East.  

Its significance, is that these are implementable steps in a continuing process for greater devolution of power, with the objective of achieving a final and durable political settlement acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka.   

The present proposals have sought to identify a course of action to achieve maximum and effective devolution of power to the Provinces to meet the aspirations of the minorities, including the Tamil speaking peoples, as well as other communities, especially those living in the North and the East. 

What is most important is that this could be done most expeditiously within the framework of the present Constitution. It is a new approach, and a pragmatic way forward following a series of failed attempts at bringing about constitutional reforms. It is envisaged that the momentum generated by working together on the basis of these proposals will enable all communities to build trust that is a pre requisite to embark on greater reforms, Minister added.