Swedish minister visits Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 February 2005, 16:52 GMT]
Sweden's Minister for International Development Co-operation visited Batticaloa Thursday to see Tsunami relief operations in the eastern district. The Swedish Minister, Ms. Carin Jamtin, met Sri Lankan government officials at the District Secretariat in the old Dutch Fort in Batticaloa town for a discussion on the current state of post Tsunami aid and rehabilitation work in Batticaloa.

She visited Navalady, a coastal suburb of Batticaloa tha was completely destroyed by the Tsunami and met refugees sheltered in the old Paddy Marketing Board granary stores.

Ms Jamtin was born in Stockholm in 1964 and grew up in Sätra, Stockholm. She is married with two children. Her education was at the Stockholm University during the years 1987 to 1989.

Full text of the press release issued by the Swedish Embassy Tuesday in Sweden follows:

"Minister for International Development Cooperation Carin Jämtin is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on 16-18 February. Included in the delegation are representatives of the Riksdag, Sida and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

During her visit, Carin Jämtin will meet members of the government and opposition and representatives of the Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups. Also included in the programme are meetings with representatives of environment and human rights organisations, and discussions on coordination with multilateral and bilateral development assistance donors. The delegation will also pay a visit to an area affected by the tsunami.

"It is important to see the development of the humanitarian situation, almost two months after the tsunami disaster. At the same time, it is clear that the disaster will affect long-term Swedish development cooperation with Sri Lanka. This visit is therefore also part of the process prior to the forthcoming decision on Sweden's contribution to reconstruction," says Carin Jämtin."