We want to move on and catch up - SL HC in Canada
August 24, 2011 12:52 pm
The conflict is behind us and today Sri Lanka wants to look
forward. We lost a lot in terms of human resources, natural and other material
resources. Everyone has lost – the Sinhalese, the Tamils, the Muslims. Now
there is peace and we want to move on and also catch up, the Sri Lankan High
Commissioner to Canada, Chithranganee Wagiswara said.
In an interview with Ottawa Citizen, the High Commissioner noted that even with
decades of unrest, the economy trucked along with an average of five percent
annual growth over the past 20 years. Still, there is rebuilding to do,
particularly with infrastructure.
There are many positive developments in Sri Lanka, the High Commissioner said
adding Tamil children are visiting the Southern part of the country and, for
the first time meeting Sinhalese people.
“They are interacting,” she said.
She said there are business, banks, factories, all establishing operations in
the northern part of the country. “It is an integration of the two societies
where, to a certain extent, there has been polarization.”
At more than 100,000, Canada has the largest Sri Lankan population living
outside the country, so the High Commissioner said she deals regularly with the
Diaspora many of whom are Tamils.