Sri Lanka’s top donors call for peace and better policies to spread prosperity wider

January 30, (LBO) – Sri Lanka's top donors expressed concern at the internal conflict that shackled aid delivery and called for changes to the country's development plan to tackle corruption and improve governance, at a two day aid and policy review forum that ended Tuesday. Donors earlier contrasted the economic recovery around the conference venue in the southern city of Galle which was hit by a tsunami two years ago, with the rising number of refugees in the north and East.

Frank Discussion

A day earlier, the United States, while pledging support to fight the Tamil Tigers, called on authorities to give relief organizations access to reach affected civilians in conflict areas.

"We found this meeting to be a very open and frank discussion," Praful Pate, World Bank's Vice President for South Asia told reporter at a closing media conference.

"Our own view is that the conflict is a very complex situation. All of us believe that progress in the development agenda would be faster in a secure environment. The government at the highest levels assured the donor partners about their commitment to a negotiated peace process and their commitment to the Mahinda Chinthana," he added.

The United Nations had faulted the 10-year Mahinda Chinthana<