Canada's support for education and development projects too

A special cordial meeting was held between the High Commissioner of Canada to Sri Lanka, H.E. Isabelle Martin, and the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Professor Chandana Abayaratne, at the Ministry premises today (16).

During this discussion, matters relating to strengthening political, economic and social relations between the two countries were exchanged.

The Provincial Council elections drew special attention in Canada and the High Commissioner inquired about the holding of the postponed Provincial Council elections in Sri Lanka. In re-sponse, the Minister stated that the government is not deliberately delaying the elections and that this delay has occurred due to certain legal, technical and delimitation issues. The Minister further stated that the President has also recognized the importance of strengthening the Provin-cial Council system as a solution to ethnic issues and that urgent steps will be taken in this re-gard in the future.

The discussion then focused on Canada's "Indo-Pacific Strategy" and the role of Sri Lanka. In particular, the High Commissioner said that although the Pacific region has been given more at-tention under the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" so far, more attention will be paid to the Indian Ocean region from this year. It was also emphasized that Sri Lanka has the opportunity to achieve many great benefits in the future through this strategy, as it holds crucial importance as a hub in the Indian Ocean.

Minister Abayaratne informed that Canada is expected to support the higher education and de-velopment projects initiated by the Sri Lankan government, and the High Commissioner of Canada agreed to provide support for reconciliation, higher education and development pro-jects.

In particular, Canada's "Pathways to Peace" project will support reconciliation between nations, and to improve communication by encouraging the learning of mutual languages as a second language, and it was agreed to provide more opportunities for Sri Lankan students to pursue master's and research degrees in Canada for higher education.

The Canadian delegation also expressed its willingness to provide the necessary technical as-sistance to solve the drinking water problems in Puttalam, Mannar and the North-Eastern provinces under technical cooperation, and to implement the relevant projects after a prelim-inary study.

The diplomatic relations between India and Canada were also discussed, and the importance of Sri Lanka working closely with India in the regional context was also highlighted.

The event was also attended by Mr. S. Aloka Bandara, Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Ms. Gwen Temmel, Political and Trade Counsellor, High Commission of Canada, and Mr. Kiril Iordanov, Head of Cooperation.