SL embassy in US canvasses Congress staff

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 September 2011, 11:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador and embassy staff held a ‘reception’ for top US Congressional staff members in Washington on Friday to brief them on ‘post-conflict development’ in the island and to discuss US policy towards Sri Lanka, a press release of the embassy said. Showing a brief film on Sri Lanka’s reconciliation, redevelopment and economic development efforts, amidst Sri Lankan dance and food, ambassador and SL president Rajapaks’s close pal, Jaliya Wikramasuriya told the chiefs of staffs of the key departments including the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “we want you to have the information to tell others the correct story of Sri Lanka, and not necessarily the one you read in the media.”

He encouraged them to follow the work of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission as it works through issues raised in the latter days of the successful conflict against the ‘terrorist group’ Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The ambassador also discussed a video presentation on Sri Lanka’s progress since the May 2009 end of the conflict, and gave each chief of staff a copy of Sri Lanka’s account of the humanitarian operation that successfully concluded the conflict with the ’terrorist group’ LTTE.

“U.S. companies like Boeing, Caterpillar, Starwood Resorts – so many others -- want to do business in Sri Lanka. They are excited about doing business there,” the SL Ambassador told the Congress staff.

According to the SL embassy press release, the Congressional staff members thanked the ambassador and said that they would update their members of Congress on the information about Sri Lanka.