All political parties represented in Parliament have been invited to a conference due to be held on Wednesday, March 23 under the auspices of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the President’s media centre stated in a release.
The conference was mooted by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to discuss the economic crisis faced by the country during a meeting between President Rajapaksa and Members of Parliament representing the SLFP at the Presidential Secretariat on March 8. At the meeting the President took into consideration fifteen proposals presented by the SLFP, covering important issues, in particular the US dollar crisis and the shortage of essential commodities.
The All Party Conference will be held at the President’s House at 10.30 am on Wednesday. The parties invited will be briefed on the situation and will be permitted to present proposals to overcome the crisis and difficulties faced by the people.
Subsequently an experts’ conference will be convened by the President to seek their views.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which has also been invited to the party said they would consider attending if the Government made available the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest review on Sri Lanka’s economy and Central Bank reports on foreign exchange reserves and details of loans to be repaid.
“Without such information being made available to the parties, the so-called conference will be a futile exercise,” JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.
Education Minister and Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament recently that these reports will be made available to the parties at the conference.