Government commended for addressing outstanding matters related to visas for international staff

At last week’s meeting of the Consultative Committee on Humanitarian
Assistance [CCHA], the Chair Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster
Management and Human Rights informed the forum outstanding issues relating to visas for expatriate staff of UN, ICRC and INGOs have been satisfactorily resolved. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continue to be the focal point for matters relating to the UN, ICRC and International Organizations with Status Agreements, while the NGO Secretariat would deal with issues relating to INGOs.
The ICRC appreciated steps taken since the last CCHA on 03 June 2008 on granting of visas for expatriate staff; and the UN informed that between the months of May and June 2008, many of the outstanding issues relating to visas have been resolved. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs after consultation with relevant ministries, will issue a set of guidelines for UN and International Organisations on visa procedures by mid July, in order to ensure a mutually satisfactory process.
Minister Samarasinghe at the meeting, thanked all UN agencies, especially WFP,
UNHCR and UNICEF for the assistance provided to the flood affected victims in Galle,Gampaha, Kalutara and Ratnapura Districts last month. While 260 MT of WFP food rations were distributed to the affected areas through the respective Government Agents, the Minister also thanked the Sri Lanka Red Cross for their contribution of dry rations to the affected areas. Furthermore, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights is looking at modalities for coordinating buffer stocks for vulnerable areas along with the Ministries of Nation Building and Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services. Samarasinghe also thanked UN OCHA for providing US$50,000 at short notice which will be utilized for mitigation measures while discussions are on-going with the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Neil Bhune, to secure a contribution of US$ 100,000 for disaster mitigation.
The Chair stated that following a request made by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Rome Summit on food security, Sri Lanka will be allocated funds from a total of US$ 6 billion. FAO has informed that discussions are under way to secure these funds.
The President had also requested the Japanese Prime Minister, H.E. Yasuo Fukuda at the Summit, to take into consideration the release of an appropriate amount of rice from the buffer stock maintained by Japan to enable Sri Lanka to meet the present shortfall.
Following discussions held between Minister Samarasinghe, WFP, Joint Operations
Headquarters (JOH) and Commissioner General of Essential Services (CGES); seven lorries carrying dry rations to Vavuniya and Mannar were transported on 03 July 2008, with 17 more to be transported during the course of this week.
It was highlighted at the meeting that a 36MW power generator has been shipped with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Navy to the Jaffna Peninsula, which would guarantee uninterrupted power, supply to the people of Jafffna. The CGES informed that according to the Ceylon Electricity Board, the generator should be operational in one months’ time.