Saturday Feb 16, 2008
The Japanese Foreign Ministry has invited nine Sri Lankan youth from the East representing Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities to a peace promotion tour in Japan. The tour which began on February 12 ends on 19.

During their stay in Japan, the delegation will pay courtesy calls on Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Hitoshi Kimura and Representative of the Japanese Government on Peace-Building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi.

The programme includes discussions with officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japanese NGOs operating in Sri Lanka as well as an exchange of views with university academics and students in Tokyo.

They will also engage in familiarisation visits to local Government offices in the Gunma Prefecture and Yokohama in the Kanagawa Prefecture.

The tour’s primary objective is to provide youth from the East an opportunity to familiarise with issues concerning local Government and nation building and to enable them to engage in confidence building activities among various ethnic groups to resolve ethnic conflicts while contributing to peace and stability in Sri Lanka, the Japanese Embassy said.