Recognizing the imperative need to meet the
challenges of the food and energy crises
faced world over, the forthcoming SAARC
Summit will provide a platform to discuss
the establishment of a mechanism to harness
and share resources within the region, which
would enable the effective use of the
available resources, stated Foreign Minister
Rohitha Bogollagama, when he met yesterday
with a ten member delegation from the
European Parliament handling relations with
the Countries of South Asia, who are on a
five day visit to Sri Lanka. He further
stated that such sharing would further
facilitate connectivity amongst the South
Asian nations.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that many
countries in South Asia are net food
exporters and according to forecasts, the
region would have a surplus of food by 2009.
However, he said that there is a need for
post harvest techniques to be developed to
sustain food stocks for a longer period of
time. While having buffer stocks of food, he
underscored the importance of establishing a
food crisis fund for the region, to ease any
future problems which may occur on the
supply of food. Referring to the energy
crisis the Minister observed that while the
South Asian countries are nett importers of
oil, 45% of the hydro-power generated within
the region could be shared. In this context,
the need for examining alternate sources of
energy was emphasized.Minister
Bogollagama outlined to the European
Parliamentarians that there would be a major
focus on the observer member states in order
to enhance their relationship with the
member countries of SAARC. To this end an
informal working discussion at Ministerial
level has been scheduled, he said. He hoped
that the European Union, which is an
Observer, would be represented at high
level. The European Parliamentarians were
also of the view that the Union required to
participate at Ministerial level since the
South Asian region is of much importance to
Europe.
Discussing the situation and progress in
the Eastern province Foreign Minister
Bogollagama informed that significant
developments and achievements had taken
place within a year, culminating in the
people electing their own representatives
both at local and provincial levels thereby
re-establishing democratic institutions
after almost one and a half decades. The
current roadmap for the Eastern province is
marked by democratic institution building,
he said. The process of devolution as
embodied in the 13th amendment of the
constitution was explained to the visiting
delegation by the Minister. He pointed out
that due to post conflict development,
people in the East were becoming empowered
through the engagement in medium and small
scale industries. He further referred to the
recent visit of the UK State Minister for
Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Lord Malloch
Brown who, during his visit to the East last
week, was impressed by the developments
which have take place in the region. He
pointed out that Lord Malloch Brown’s visit
was the first high political level
interaction with the elected representatives
of the Eastern Provincial Council. The
visiting Parliamentarians demonstrated an
interest in being briefed on the national
development plan for the Eastern province.
They referred to the already allocated funds
for projects in this region by the EU.
Minister Bogollagama welcomed the fact that
the European delegation would be visiting
the Eastern province and stated that it
would provide an opportunity to experience
at first hand the progress in that region.
He emphasized the need for the EU to
contribute substantially towards the
development of the East.
The European Parliamentarian delegation
was led by Robert Evans of the Socialists
Group. He led a similar delegation to Sri
Lanka in December 2007. The current visit is
the fifth Inter-parliamentary meeting
between the members of the European
Parliament and Sri Lanka.
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