Colombo: Sri Lanka is well positioned to meet the Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs) in the areas of universal primary school enrolment, gender equality in primary and secondary school enrolment, reducing maternal and child mortality.

Dislcosing this at the United General Assembly held last week, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United Nations Prasad Kariyawasam said that MDGs had been integrated into his country's national development strategies, including the 10-year development framework for 2007-2016.

"Despite achievements and the country's recent transition from a low- to a middle-income country, Sri Lanka still faced significant challenges in several areas, including poverty eradication, achieving environmentally sustainable development, reducing unemployment and mitigating the social costs of migration and brain drain," he added.

Kariyawasam said that achieving the goals in a sustainable manner is linked to overcoming regional disparities, including uneven distribution of wealth, and added that the destruction caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami had been a serious setback.

Stating that the campaign of terror by a separatist terrorist group is also a major challenge to national well-being, he pointed out that as a result of terrorism, several conflict-affected regions had lagged behind, and service sectors like tourism had been affected.

In this context, the Ambassador said that the government is making every effort and working with development partners to build national capacities to address these challenges.

The government is taking action to promote equity and inclusion, to implement pro-poor policies favouring local aspirations and indigenous methods, as well as local entrepreneurship, he added.

Kariyawasam further said that while combating terrorism, the Government had taken steps to ensure just and lasting peace in the north and east of the country through socio-political means.
—iGovernment Bureau