Cannot delay basic needs of NE accede donors

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 11:43 GMT]
"It has been accepted at this conference that the people of the northeast cannot wait for their basic needs until a political solution to the ethnic conflict is found," said Mr. Daya Master, the media co-ordinator of the Liberation Tigers speaking to the press at the conclusion of the northeast donor conference Monday. "People in the northeast have many needs. They cannot be expected to wait until there is a solution to the conflict," a Dutch diplomat who took part in the conference said.

The diplomat from the Netherlands Embassy in Colombo, Mr. Harry J. J Van Diejh said that the conference had discussed means to "maximise and reactivate the development program in the northeast."

"The international community also has a responsibility towards rehabilitation and development in the northeast," he said.

The NorthEast donor conference which began at 11.30 a.m. concluded at 2.10 p.m.

"The venue of the conference, the LTTE’s Planning Secretariat, is named after Prof. A. Thurairajah in honour of the immense contributions he made to engineering and scientific development planning in Thamil Eelam. We want to expand this secretariat into a fully-fledged development planning and resource centre. This was also discussed today. More meetings with donors will follow today’s conference," Mr. Daya Master told TamilNet.