Colombo: India's neighbouring country Sri Lanka's Eighth Parliament came into being with President Maithripala Sirisena's call for reconciliation and co-existence. In his address to the Parliament, the President said the country had to take “bold political decisions” on the issue of reconciliation. “It is up to us to take the initiative in this regard,” Sirisena said. The new government would give importance to accomplishing expeditious economic progress in the conflict-hit regions of the Northern and the Eastern provinces, besides adjoining areas.
Referring to the political culture of confrontation, the President said that one principal party (SLFP) had ruled the country for 35 years and another (UNP) for 32 years. Calling upon the newly-elected Members of Parliament to support the government’s efforts towards developing the new political culture, he said the common plan of action, that features ideologies of all four parties, the UNP, the SLFP, the Tamil National Alliance and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna would be incorporated along with his manifesto. He also assured the House that electoral reforms, acceptable to all the parties and the civil society, would be adopted.
Where the area of foreign affairs is concerned, the government would focus on Asia, which was, he said, expected to register a high level of economic growth in the years to come. In the last eight months, the country's ties with other countries had improved to such an extent that its pride and glory among the comity of nations had been restored, the President added.
