The Norwegian Government says it has decided to financially support people to re-start the livelihood activities and promote the resettlement process in Sri Lanka’s war-affected Northern Province. 

“It is very important for people to return to their original places and re- established their lives,” Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Tore Hattrem, said at Valalai in Jaffna while visiting the Norwegian funded UNDP programme on Wednesday (1).

“Therefore, the Norwegian Government has decided to financially support people to re-start the livelihood activities and promote the resettlement process.” 

He stated that Norway has a longstanding development co-operation with Sri Lanka and that the Scandinavian country has assisted the fisheries sector in the North decades ago.

With assistance from Norway, several projects to improve the fishing industry were undertaken throughout the coastal areas of the island. The CEYNOR funded factory was built in Karainagar and Kurunagar to build boats and to manufacture fishing nets, he said.

And earlier this year, Norway accepted a request from the Ministry of Fishery to assist further within the fishery sector, Mr Hattrem said.

“In recent years, our assistance mainly focused on supporting vulnerable communities in the Northern Province.” 

A major part of the support has been extended through the UN Organisations and civil society organisations to enhance the livelihood opportunities of the affected communities, the State Secretary of Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. 

The former Norwegian envoy to Colombo said he was very happy to be back in the island nation. “Sri Lanka means something special to me and I often think of all the good memories that I have from my term as Ambassador of Norway in Sri Lanka 7 years ago.”