Sri Lanka seeks stronger economic alliance with Iran
Colombo (AsiaNews) - Sri Lanka welcomes the Iranian delegation headed by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the name of "traditional Asian solidarity", and speaks of "the path to progress". Slogans of this kind could be read yesterday on posters along the streets of Colombo, where the Iranian president arrived as part of his tour of the region. He immediately met with his counterpart, Mahinda Rajapakse, and signed a series of agreements on matters of the economy and of cooperation. Today he will be present at the inauguration of two large projects on the island, financed by Tehran: the Uma Oya dam in Puhulpolla, Welimada, in the province of Uva, and the expansion of the refinery in Sapugaskanda. In the first project, a large dam will serve to irrigate about 10,000 hectares of land in the area of Wellawaya, and to generate more than 100 megawatts of energy for the national grid.
Iran is paying for all of the work with a low-interest loan equal to 450 million dollars. Financing of 1.85 billion dollars will go to the refinery that should make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in the production of asphalt and airplane fuel. The agreements also cover the purchase of Iranian oil by Colombo.
"With this visit and the new agreements on economic ties", says the official statement of the Sinhalese the government, "Iran is expected to emerge as one of the major donors of economic assistance to Sri Lanka ". The visit of Ahmadinejad is bringing to light the gradual tendency of the former Ceylon to reduce its dependence on its traditional Western donors (the United States and Europe), which link aid to respect for human rights, and instead to embrace alliances with "less critical" countries. China, for example, which is financing a controversial coal-fired power plant, and a 700 million dollar port expansion.
Today, Ahmadinejad also met with religious representatives in Galadari, Colombo. On this occasion, he praised the harmony among cultures and religions that reigns in Sri Lanka, pointing to it as an "example" of society for the entire world. In the north and east of the country, a multi-decade civil war between Tamils and Sinhalese has killed more than 70,000 people, while the army is accused of abuses against civilians.
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