The European Commission (EC) is preparing a five year Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for Sri Lanka which will cover the period beginning from 2002 to 2006, said EC’s Head of Delegation in Sri Lanka Ambassador Ilkka Uusitalo, at a meeting on European Union (EU)-Sri Lanka relations which was held in Colombo on Friday.

He said that the CSP would focus on trade, the economy and poverty reduction. "It will give a basic framework of what we are planning for Sri Lanka in the next five years, with a focus on better long term planning," said Uusitalo.

The Ambassador said that the CSP will define priority areas for funding economically. "It doesn’t change radically with what we are already doing. It will confirm that we will move from traditional development aid to economic cooperation," he said.

"We have been involved in Mahaweli and irrigation. But now it may be changed to poverty reduction in rural areas,Uusitalo said. "25% to 30% of the population are below the poverty line according to a World Bank briefing given on Thursday. Most of the development work is concentrated in the Western Province," the Ambassador said.

He said that most of the aid Sri Lanka receives from the EU is in the form of loans and soft loans. "You are not getting grants and concessions," Uusitalo said. But in the future, the loans too would diminish and disappear, because Sri Lanka is graduating from being a least developed country (LDC) to that of a low middle-income country.

He also said that the EC is the executive arm of the EU, represented by 126 delegates all over the world. The activities of the EC in those countries are similar to ambassadorial functions when it comes to issues such as trade and commerce and the dissemination of information.

However, it does not engage in consular affairs and the issuing of visas, which are also part of the activities engaged by diplomatic missions abroad. "The removal of textile quotas to the EU was negotiated between the Sri Lanka Government and the EC," Uusitalo said.

"We monitor the disbursement of funds allocated by the EU budget, " he added. The Ambassador also said that there is a ‘cooperation and partnership’ agreement between the EC and Sri Lanka on democracy, human rights and minority rights. (PA)