The Foreign Ministers had then commented on the recommendations. Mr. Kadirgamar said the Action Plan covers all the sectors of the GEP Report, namely the Economic, Commercial, Social, Cultural and Technical Cooperation Issues as well as the institutional matters relating to the Secretariat and would serve as a road map for at least the first quarter of the next century. The Minister said the possible coordination of positions between the two Associations, enables a block of 17 countries in the Asia Pacific to speak with one voice on economic questions.
Fighting is likely to continue till a settlement of some kind is reached.
At the present moment, the prospects of a negotiated political settlement are not as evident as one would have hoped. There has to be a bona-fide expression, willingness to enter into a meaningful negotiation. What is proposed is something even more substantial than what presently obtains in the Indian Union, but the LTTE has not shown any interest at the moment in that. Asked of the prospects for the holding of an International Conference on Terrorism in the immediate future, Minister Kadirgamar said Sri Lanka would welcome such a move and would certainly be very closely involved in that. He noted that even at present Sri Lanka was a Vice-Chair of the Drafting Committee of the UN Conventions on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing and on Nuclear terrorism, respectively.