President met UK opposition leader
Britiain's Opposition Leader, David Cameron, said that his country appreciates the challenges Sri Lanka is facing and the efforts being made as a democracy confronted with terrorism and is keen to understand the related problems and look at how to best assist. Mr. Cameron expressed these views when he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in London, where the latter is attending a mini summit of Commonwealth Heads of State to discuss among other matters the reform of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
President Rajapaksa explained to Mr. Cameron the efforts his government had made to restore democracy in the Eastern province and to launch an ambitious development programme that would help empower the people of all communities who had been affected by the conflict.
The President highlighted that the new Chief Minister of the Eastern province, Mr. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, was previously a frontline member of the LTTE who had renounced terrorism and entered the democratic process along with his cadres. He stated that the victory of Mr. Chandrakanthan's party was a clear indication that the people of the Eastern province had endorsed the transition to democratic governance as a result of the development work the government had undertaken during the past year which had been appreciated by the Tamil community.
