SL has strong support in US congress: Wickramasuriya

5 August 2011 03:30 pm Views - 5167

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya claims that Sri Lanka has strong support in the US congress, with a group of over 30 members. “We have strong support in Congress. We have a Sri Lanka caucus of more than 30 members, and a good many members who have expressed their support to us for defeating the LTTE and launching our redevelopment and reconciliation efforts,” he told the Daily Mirror, from Washington.

However he conceded that there are a number of groups working against the interests of Sri Lanka. “There are a few NGOs and several LTTE diaspora members who have been lobbying Congress for the last two decades. But members can’t ignore the positive developments in Sri Lanka,” he said.

He went on to explain in detail that a group of 12 U.S. businesses recently sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praising Sri Lanka’s development efforts. After having visited the country in March of this year the businessman had shown interest in investing in Sri Lanka.  “Boeing, for instance, is going to sell aircrafts to SriLankan Airlines. John Deere and Caterpillar are interested in establishing a presence in Sri Lanka. Others want to establish small factories and assembly plants, and a number of top U.S. hotel chains are already negotiating projects in Sri Lanka,” Wickramasuriya said.

The Ambassador also stated that Sri Lankan news reports painted an overly negative picture of the US. “Sometimes the news stories in Sri Lanka make it seems as though the U.S. doesn’t support us. But in fact we have strong support overall from the U.S. Our diplomatic relations with the U.S. must be based on a strong trust, and I personally think that trust is growing stronger,” he said. (By Dianne Silva)