The Foreign Minister of Finland Erkki Tuomioja who is in Sri Lanka on a two day visit met with Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at the Foreign Ministry on 5th February. This is the first ever visit to Sri Lanka by a Finnish Foreign Minister. Minister Tuomioja was accompanied by the Ambassador of Finland to Sri Lanka, Ambassador for Asia and Oceania and the Special Advisor to the Finnish Foreign Minister.

Minister Kadirgamar thanked Finland for the assistance it had already given to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami disaster, and made special note of the large amount of donations from private organisations and individuals, which formed a major component of donations pouring in from all over the world. He also briefed the visiting Minister about the post-tsunami reconstruction efforts which are currently underway. Noting Finland’s long standing assistance rendered to Sri Lanka specially in upgrading the Colombo General Hospital, the Minister suggested that Finland could consider the construction of hospitals for the rural community as part of their post-tsunami assistance. The Minister added that other sectors requiring attention included housing, trauma counselling and providing care for the affected children.

The Minister also explained that the Government would welcome the donor countries to identify the specific projects they wanted to contribute, to and carry out the projects themselves with their funds and experts, while making use of local labour.

The Finnish Foreign Minister conveyed his condolences to Sri Lanka for the disaster, which had affected so many people, and also thanked the Sri Lankan officials and people for helping the Finnish citizens who were in the affected areas to be brought to safety. The visiting Minister informed that Finland was keen to allocate funds for the long-term reconstruction efforts in Sri Lanka. The Minister further mentioned that Finland’s existing bilateral assistance to Sri Lanka included water supply and treatment and modernization of hospitals. He added that the Finnish Government would be interested in expanding on the areas in post-tsunami reconstruction effort as well. It was also mentioned that approximately 20 million euro had been collected from private individuals and organizations in Finland for Sri Lanka.

The visiting Foreign Minister thanked Sri Lanka for the warm reception accorded to him and observed that the two countries could further strengthen and improve their bilateral relations. He added that there should be an expansion of trade relations between the two countries. In conclusion Minister Tuomioja added that Sri Lanka was a favourite holiday destination for Finnish tourists and indicated that they would soon start coming back to Sri Lanka.