High Commission of Sri Lanka in India

The colossal sums of monies that nations spend on conflicts and wars must be diverted towards development, research and technology to reduce poverty and suffering. Sri Lanka’s humanitarian initiatives have enabled the government, not just to end conflicts but to divert resources earlier spent on conflicts, now towards welfare and development, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Public expenditure on rural centric initiatives and on farmers, on children and similar expenditures on the provision of water, sanitation and clean environment are more productive and beneficial to the welfare of the citizens. Therefore, at a ministerial conference such as this, our determination should be to appeal to the world to divert their defense expenditure to development" President said delivering the inaugural address at the Ministerial Summit of the South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV) on 6 April 2011 in Colombo.

President said: "Sri Lanka already has a commitment to provide universal access to water and good sanitation by the year 2020. We are confident of achieving this, as we have already achieved the Millennium Development Goals in a key area such as the lowest maternal mortality rate in South and South East Asia".

We are well on the way to achieving the MDGs in universal primary education, gender parity in primary education, and maternal and child health. Our country is on course to achieve the MDG target for declining poverty by 2015. Sanitation and related good hygiene plays a significant role in all of this, President Rajapaksa added.