Japanese, Dutch Foreign Ministers to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2005, 20:10 GMT]
Mr. Shuzen Tanigawa, Senior Vice Foreign Affairs Minister of the Government of Japan is to arrive in Colombo Saturday evening on a three-day visit and Mr.Bernard Bot, Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister will arrive in Colombo February 3rd, diplomatic sources said.

Both ministers are expected to meet Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, and leaders of other political parties on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of tsunami affected areas.

The Japanese minister will also tour the tsunami affected areas in the south and will leave for Maldives on February 1st, sources said.

Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister will also hold talks with the government and opposition leaders including Tamil National Alliance (TNA), sources said.

Mr.Bernard Bot will leave Colombo on February 4th morning, sources said.

Mr Tanigawa represented Japan at the Tsunami Aid Conference in Geneva and the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction, which was held in Kobe, Japan in the early part of January, sources said.