DalyMirror
The government yesterday said that it was looking at ‘appropriate changes’ to the country’s emergency regulations.
“The new Government would be looking at making appropriate changes to laws that were necessary in times of turbulence,” newly appointed External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said adding that “emergency regulations were also under ‘active consideration’ in this regard.”
The minister was responding to a question that was also raised on Sri Lanka that being ‘under attack from the West’ on human rights.
Addressing the media, Minister Peiris, who was also to take part at the summit, emphasized that these laws were not made in perpetuity and therefore were “bound to change”. Emergency regulations were also under ‘active consideration’ in this regard.
The Minister added that Sri Lanka would be looking at constant dialogue, engagement and reaching out towards further strengthening its relations with the outside world.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa would have a series of bilateral talks with SAARC leaders including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sideline of the 16th SAARC summit in Bhutan this week, newly appointed
External Affairs Minister G.L Peiris told media yesterday.
He said that during the discussion with the Indian Leader, President Rajapaksa would explain the measures taken by his government to improve the conditions in the country since the ending of the war.
Meanwhile the 16th SAARC summit would mark a new phase in the history of the organization where the leaders of the seven nations would begin to take stock of the past 25 years of the organizations’ existence and move from the formulation of policies to the implementation of these policies, according Minister G.L Peiris.
“The priorities of the leaders of the SAARC have now changed from the defining of policies and principles to the putting these policies into operation. Thereby making the SAARC more people centric and make the people of these nations aware that the SAARC is an instrument directly relevant to their well being,” Peiris said, addressing the media.
He highlighted that at the previous SAARC summit in Colombo the leaders had come to a consensus that if the resources of the region were pooled in the areas of combating terrorism, food security and energy security then the achievement of each countries objectives and greater well being could be assured for all.
Peiris further noted that the purpose of the summit was not mere economic development but the relisation and the reaping of these benefits of this development of the rural and urban population of the countries of the SAARC. He added that one of the focuses of the upcoming summit would be to reduce the inequalities that lye in the region between the rural and urban communities.
“Despite the global financial crisis our region stood up to the pressure well and the region did well. But the SAARC leaders will discuss, at the upcoming summit, the best mechanisms through which they can creatively and imaginatively contribute towards the distribution of these benefits to all communities, both rural and urban,” the Minister said.
Another area of interest to SAARC leaders, according to the Minister, will be the democratic governance Sri Lanka has managed to establish. “Democratic governance has been an area of interest for the region and the leaders of the SAARC will be interested in knowing how Sri Lanka has established mechanisms and intuitions to ensure its operation in the country,” he said.
The Minister is also of the belief that Sri Lanka’s abolishing of terrorism will engage the interest of the international leaders present at the summit. “A number of think-tanks and universities are looking into how Sri Lanka managed to defeat terrorism. We have been able to prove to them that given the right political leadership, allocation of resources, firm commitment and proper tactics it is possible to militarily defeat terrorism,” he said.
It is also expected that President Mahinda Rajapaksa will have bilateral talks, on the side-line of the summit with a number of leaders including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Climate change and environment is another area expected to be on the agenda for discussion on the Summit to be held in Thimpu, Bhutan on April 28th and 29th.