Speech made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Banquet hosted by President Smt. Pratibha Patil, 9 June 2010 |
Official Documents - India - Sri lanka Relations | |||
Written by Administrator | |||
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 05:17 | |||
Your Excellency Srimathi Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of
Your Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The distinguished gathering this evening and the elegant setting of Rashtrapati Bhawan, bring back memories of the warm goodwill of my first State visit to Bonds between our two countries go back to the mists of history. Since the days of Emperor Asoka, whose kindness led to Excellencies, On behalf of the Government and the people of my country, I express appreciation to the Government and the people of Excellencies, The recent national elections enabled the people living in the North and the East of our country to exercise their franchise freely after several decades. We are committed to strengthening this democratic process. Provincial Council elections were held in the East, no sooner the province was cleared of terrorists. We now intend to hold Provincial Council elections in the North at the earliest. I am fully aware that the measures for economic progress and for the revival of democratic governance, must be paralleled by measures to heal the hurt in the minds of our people arising out of conflict. We are determined to introspect and learn from the events of that difficult era. With this intention, a Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation has now been appointed. We are confident that this Commission with its wide ranging mandate would guide us towards a process of further strengthening national amity.
Excellencies, With our focus now on delivering the peace dividend and prosperity to our people, our economic relations with Just as much as we in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and I, joined by our respective delegations have had fruitful discussions today and reached agreement on many issues. I am confident that these decisions will strengthen our endeavours to fashion a partnership that can become a model of deep trust, friendship and cooperation between two very close neighbours. Excellency, While thanking you and the Government of India for the warm welcome and generous hospitality extended to me and my delegation, I take this opportunity to invite you to visit Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me now propose a toast to the good health, success and happiness of Her Excellency Srimathi Pratibha Patil and to the long-lasting friendship between the peoples of To Friendship ! Thank you.
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