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US pledges continuing support for peace process
Minister Milinda Moragoda on Friday briefed U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage during a meeting in Washington on the progress made during the second session of the first round of talks held in Thailand early this month.

Minister Moragoda met Mr. Armitage to update him on the peace talks while also discussing the forthcoming Oslo aid-pledging meeting aimed at mobilising financial support for immediate humanitarian and rehabilitation action in the North and East.

Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca and James Andrew Bever of USAID were also present at the meeting. Mr. Armitage who will be leading the U.S. delegation for the Oslo conference said the U.S. was committed to continually support Sri Lanka.

The U.S. is also looking at providing development assistance for the rest of Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry said.

Accordingly, a comprehensive donor conference is scheduled to be held in Tokyo early next year. The discussion also focused on the possible role that the US could play with regard to the Youth Corp and the E-Lanka initiative.

Minister Moragoda also held separate meetings with Ms. Rocca, Jim Moriarty of the National Security Council and Peter Rodman of the Department of Defence and Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Shigemitsu Sugisaki. A meeting with Shegman Zhang, Managing Director and Acting President of the World Bank focused on the forthcoming Oslo conference. Among others associated with the Minister's meeting were Sri Lanka's Ambassador designate to the US Devendra Subasinghe and Sri Lanka's Charge d'affaires in Washington J.D.A. Wijewardena.

Moragoda promotes US hegemony
One of Sri Lanka's top ministers has extolled the virtues of the United States for sole leadership in the world saying the critics who cried Americans go home might also say "Please take me with you."

Addressing an Asia Pacific security conference in Honolulu Minister Moragoda called on the United States to take the role of a leader and through its resources enhance security and eradicate terrorism.

He said he would use the word hegemony rejecting the negative connotations it had in socialist discourses.

"If the United States were to apply its resources to promote democracy and free trade worldwide, and do so with respect for its partners and with the patience and restrain that the strong should show to those less strong, then not only would the security of the world be enhanced and the causes which erode security and breed terrorism be removed, but the world would look with fresh eyes upon its hegemony," Mr. Moragoda said.

The Minister said that the high ethical and political principles formulated in the U.S. Constitution were worthy of propagation, among all cultures. The level of its financial, technological and scientific resources and the multicultural composition of its own society, qualifies the U.S. for hegemony. Its broad reception could strengthen the security worldwide.

Mr. Moragoda said proactive fostering of democracy the world over, encouraging free enterprise and trade to promote economic development and raising living standards were the most straightforward approaches to lay the foundation of peace and security. "These steps will need to begin at a political level, with the forging of new partnerships with the leadership".

If security is enhanced and terrorism eradicated, the world would look with fresh eyes upon its hegemony, he said adding, "you may then still hear the cry 'Americans, go home!' but it may well be accompanied by the refrain '..but please - take me with you'".

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