Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Jan Petersen Meets LTTE Leader
LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan met with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Jan Petersen on 15 May 2003 at Killinochchi. This meeting represented a significant moment in the ongoing peace process, The visiting Norwegian delegation consisted of the Foreign Minister; Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Deputy Foreign Minister; Mr. Marit Berger, Political Advisor; Mr. Hans Brattskar, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka; Mr. Tomas Strangeland, Second Secretary and Ms. Karsten Klepsik, Spokesperson.
 The Norwegian Foreign Minister and his team arrived by helicopter from Colombo and were welcomed by Mr. S.P. Tamilselvan, head of the political wing of the LTTE. They later arrived at the Peace Secretariat and were greeted by Mr. Pirapaharan. The meeting commenced around 11.30 a.m. Mr. S.P. Tamilselvan, Col. Karuna, Col. Pathuman and Mr. Rudrakumaran Legal Advisor, also joined the LTTE leader during the discussions with the visiting Norwegian delegation. The meeting lasted more than two hours and the progress of the peace process dominated the discussions. Briefing press at the end of the meeting, Mr. S.P. Tamilselvan said that the LTTE leader had clearly explained the position of the LTTE on the stalled peace process to the Norwegian Foreign Minister. Mr. Pirapaharan highlighted the destruction of the entire infrastructure of the North and East and pointed out that despite the ceasefire now having been in place for more than 12 months no meaningful reconstruction and rehabilitation process had taken place. The failure of the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the hither to reached agreements had meant that the people of the North and East have lost faith in the peace process. 
Mr. Pirapaharan informed the Norwegian Foreign Minister that the SIHRN sub-committee setup earlier had not functioned properly and as a consequence no World Bank Rehabilitation funding was being made available for the restoration of the region. He requested that immediate steps be made to setup an appropriate structure with adequate administrative power to implement the rehabilitation and reconstruction needs of the region. Mr. Jan Petersen also accepted that the people of the North and East are yet to experience a return to normalcy in their lives and the inability to resettle the internally displaced people also remained a serious problem. At the conclusion of the meeting Mr. Pirapaharan presented Mr. Petersen with a momento to mark the visit.
15 May 2003
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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