The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rohitha Bogollagama said President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s policy of pursuing a Sri Lankan agenda had started to pay rich dividends. "This agenda is serving Sri Lanka’s national security interest, countering terrorism, preserving the territorial integrity that has been threatened for three decades and bringing democracy and development to all the people of Sri Lanka".

The minister made these comments, in his address to a large and representative gathering of Sri Lankans resident in the Greater Washington area at a reception, hosted by Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, last Saturday (September 20, 2008). Minister of Education, Susil Premajayantha attended the reception as the guest of honour.

The minister highlighting the Eastern Province progress said the region had not experienced democracy for 15 years and now "democracy is functioning under a Chief Minister who had been elected by the people of the Province. The Provincial Council represented all three communities, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. The Provincial Council the people had elected is now implementing development projects in the Province". The Eastern Province, the minister stressed was an example to the entire international community of how to undertake a successful counter-terrorism drive and bring democracy and development to the people at the same time.

Minister Bogollagama told the gathering that he had taken the opportunity to brief the key decision makers in the US Government in Washington on important developments in Sri Lanka.

The Foreign Minister said Sri Lanka was elected unanimously by the countries of South Asia as the Chair of SAARC. This was indicative of Sri Lanka’s role as a player in a region that represented 23% of the world’s population. He noted that the countries of SAARC successfully worked out an agenda to address critical issues that challenged the region such as food and energy, security, development and most importantly, eliminating terrorism in all countries of the region. The Minister referred to the tragic terrorist attack that had rocked Islamabad, Pakistan, shortly before his arrival at the reception, as an example of the horrendous acts of terrorism perpetrated throughout the world today.

Foreign Minister Bogollagama stressed that there was no racial divide in Sri Lanka and that there was no language problem. "In fact language is a major factor in national integration and the Sri Lanka Government spends large amounts of money to ensure that the public service of Sri Lanka including the police force becomes trilingual. Tamil speaking police officers are currently being recruited to preserve law and order in the Eastern Province," he said.