Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana yesterday assured that he did not sign any agreement with the US government during his official visit to the United States of America recently.
“I was in the US on an official visit. There is an official discussion we held with the US government on the agreements between the two governments every two years. It’s called the Partnership Dialogue. On one occasion, the SOFA agreement’s name was mentioned as pending matters to attend. I referred to two of the fifteen clauses in this agreement including diplomatic immunity and told them that we want to discuss about the agreement in detail. We also have informed them that we cannot go ahead with letters like the last time and that we need a proper agreement. If we are granting diplomatic immunity and other privileges, we will have to gazette them too.” Minister Marapana said.
Speaking on the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA), Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC), Minister Marapana said some are tyring to spread false rumours wbout the agreements. He observed that both the SOFA and ACSA were agreements which were signed before, and all decisions in relation to the funds given by the MCC will be decided by the government.
Minister Marapana speaking on the No Confidence Motion against the government by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, he observed that such a move is unfair by a government that detained most of the key terrorists involved in the Easter Sunday bomb attacks within 24 hours.
Minister Marapana also observed that incidents of communal violence such as the incident that happened in Minuwangoda make the country unstable before the international community.
(Daily News)