Sri Lanka is conscious of the opportunity that has now presented itself following the elimination of terrorism in the country. Minister Peiris highlighting Sri Lanka's accomplishments nearly three years after Sri Lanka defeated the terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) described the country's post-conflict redevelopment and reconciliation programs, emphasizing that lasting peace, stability and growth in Sri Lanka will be achieved through home-grown solutions, not those prescribed by the international community. "We also realize that the process that we have in mind must be a domestic process. It can't be donor-driven or foreign-owned," the Minister has emphasized. Anything other than a domestic solution will be "unhelpful in implementing the reforms that are required at this moment in history," the Minister has noted. "At the end of the day, the solution that everyone wants has got to have a home-grown element to it." Minister Peiris has noted that Sri Lanka is already adopting recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, and that the government recently initiated a process to put the commission's recommendations to work in "a meaningful way", after extensive consultation with in the government. The Minister has said that Sri Lanka's immediate goal after the conflict was the resettlement of those displaced by the fighting, as well as economic development to provide livelihoods and new infrastructure to the Northern region that was devastated by the atrocities of the LTTE. Prof. Peiris has also outlined the government's program to improve public services and regenerate important sectors in the Northern Sri Lankan economy, such as fishing and agriculture. "We believe in reconciliation, but economic development is a crucial component of a wider reconciliation," he has said. The Minister is in Washington DC on a four-day, official visit at the invitation of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to discuss the Sri Lankan government's plan to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). He commenced his tour on Tuesday with a series of meetings with key U.S. Senate leaders including Republican Senator John McCain, Democratic Senator Jim Webb, of Virginia, and Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma. With Senator McCain, the Minister has discussed the defeat of the LTTE, economic stability and reconciliation, there commendations of the LLRC and Sri Lanka�s relationship with both India and China. In a second Senate meeting with Senator Webb, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former Secretary of the U.S. Navy, Minister Peiris has noted that reconciliation is Sri Lanka's main focus, along with the swift implementation of the LLRC's recommendations acceptable to the government. At a meeting with Senator Inhofe, member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Minister Peiris has outlined Sri Lanka's reconciliation efforts, and plans for future economic development. Minister's schedule for the week includes more meetings in Congress, with officials of the White House and on Friday (May 18), a session with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the External Affairs Ministry said.
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