Lanka anticipating new governing system: PM

14 March 2015 03:20 am Views - 9081

Sri Lanka is envisaging a new governing system based on cooperation of all political parties, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told the Indian Premier who addressed the Sri Lankan Parliament that our country was looking for something more than the Westminster System of Governance.

“We are looking towards adopting a cooperative style of governance where each political party cooperates in the governance while maintaining their own identities,” he said.

He said Sri Lanka had a long history of democracy which dated back to the state council days in 1835. Referring to Resettlement Minister D. M. Swaminathan, Mr. Wickremesinghe said a descendent of a member of the first state council in Sri Lanka was serving as a member in the Sri Lankan Parliament today.
He also said Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka was a long overdue one and would be a beginning of a new chapter in Indo-Sri Lanka relations. In saying so the Prime Minister ran through the history of Indo Sri Lanka relationship going down to the days of Cholas and Pandians, whose action he said had affected both nations.(Yohan Perera and Kelum Bandara)