Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Monday Tokyo would continue to offer economic assistance to Sri Lanka despite the suspension of some U.S. and British aid this year over human rights abuses in the continuing civil war.
Japan is the single largest donor to Sri Lanka, and provides nearly two thirds of all international aid to the island. It has contributed 63 percent of total bilateral
aid received by the country since 2003.
Fukuda was speaking to reporters alongside visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the two leaders held talks.
Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told Rajapaksa Japan would approve 1.9 billion yen ($17 million) in grants-in-aid to Sri Lanka this week, Kyodo news agency said.
"I conveyed to the president Japan's intention to cooperate for peace in Sri Lanka as well as economic development," Fukuda told reporters.
Last week Amnesty International criticised Sri Lanka's government for violating the human rights of thousands of Tamils who were arrested days after two bombs exploded in the capital Colombo in late November.
Japan has repeatedly said will it continue to give aid to Sri Lanka despite the country's
failure to address the spiraling human rights violations.
When asked about spiraling human rights violations, Mr Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special envoy, said on June 9 at the end of a four day visit to Sri Lanka that "these certainly did not accord with the "values of a civilized society", but it was natural that these values sometimes suffered and were likely to be given "second place" in a country fighting terrorism".
Last week the Japanese Prime Minister stated that already large scale development projects were seeing the light of day in Sri Lanka and Japan was happy about the cooperation between the two countries in this context.
The visit of the Sri Lankan President to Japan he felt was a step forward in strengthening the friendly ties between the two countries, he further observed.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa thanked Japan for standing steadfastly by Sri Lanka on achieving peace and the development of the country.
Sri Lanka in its turn was rejecting full-scale war but was combating terrorism and was on the look out for a peaceful settlement to the existing conflict, he said.
Sri Lanka is a country that has always safe guarded Human Rights and will remain so in the future protecting democracy and human rights unreservedly, President Rajapaksa said.
Japan is the single largest donor to Sri Lanka, and provides nearly two thirds of all international aid to the island. It has contributed 63 percent of total bilateral
aid received by the country since 2003.
Fukuda was speaking to reporters alongside visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the two leaders held talks.
Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told Rajapaksa Japan would approve 1.9 billion yen ($17 million) in grants-in-aid to Sri Lanka this week, Kyodo news agency said.
"I conveyed to the president Japan's intention to cooperate for peace in Sri Lanka as well as economic development," Fukuda told reporters.
Last week Amnesty International criticised Sri Lanka's government for violating the human rights of thousands of Tamils who were arrested days after two bombs exploded in the capital Colombo in late November.
Japan has repeatedly said will it continue to give aid to Sri Lanka despite the country's
failure to address the spiraling human rights violations.
When asked about spiraling human rights violations, Mr Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special envoy, said on June 9 at the end of a four day visit to Sri Lanka that "these certainly did not accord with the "values of a civilized society", but it was natural that these values sometimes suffered and were likely to be given "second place" in a country fighting terrorism".
Last week the Japanese Prime Minister stated that already large scale development projects were seeing the light of day in Sri Lanka and Japan was happy about the cooperation between the two countries in this context.
The visit of the Sri Lankan President to Japan he felt was a step forward in strengthening the friendly ties between the two countries, he further observed.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa thanked Japan for standing steadfastly by Sri Lanka on achieving peace and the development of the country.
Sri Lanka in its turn was rejecting full-scale war but was combating terrorism and was on the look out for a peaceful settlement to the existing conflict, he said.
Sri Lanka is a country that has always safe guarded Human Rights and will remain so in the future protecting democracy and human rights unreservedly, President Rajapaksa said.
