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| Saturday, 22 January 2005 |
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The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Gianfranco Fini accompanied by Madam Stefania Prestigiacom, Minister of the Equal Opportunity called on President Kumaratunga yesterday. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were present. In recent weeks the Speaker of the Italian Parliament and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs have also visited Sri Lanka in connection with the tsunami disaster. The two Ministers visited Trincomalee and Kinniya and left Sri Lanka yesterday. The discussion with President Kumaratunga covered a range of issues in respect of which the Italian Government would be prepared to consider assistance to Sri Lanka. They included the establishment of a factory in Sri Lanka for the purposes of producing housing units. The Deputy Prime Minister also said that a well known Italian multi-national company is willing to set up a plant in Sri Lanka for bakery products which could provide substantial employment. A part of the revenue from this enterprise could be used for reconstruction purposes. The Deputy Prime Minister also indicated that Italy would be prepared to assist in manufacturing fishing boats locally rather than importing them from abroad. The question of assistance for children, especially orphans, affected by this tragedy was also discussed. The Milan Tourism Fair is scheduled to be held shortly and the Deputy Prime Minister extended an invitation to Sri Lanka to be present at a high level on this occasion in order to explain the measures being taken to promote tourism. He thanked President Kumaratunga and the Sri Lankan authorities for pursuing the objective of peace and observed that there seemed to be positive developments in this direction. The Foreign Ministry conveyed the warm thanks of the Italian Government and the people for all the assistance that the Government and people of Sri Lanka had rendered to Italian tourists affected by the tsunami disaster, states a Foreign Ministry press release. |
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