AMBASSADOR WICKRAMASURIYA THANKS AND APPRECIATES SUPPORT OF THE SRI LANKAN COMMUNITY IN THE UNITED STATES DURING 2009

I am  pleased to extend my best wishes and thank all Sri Lankans and Sri Lankan Americans in the United States as we celebrate the New Year -- and a new beginning, and  look forward to embarking on a new chapter in the history of our Motherland after overcoming decades of conflict. Your support and contribution played a vital role in our efforts toward protecting our Motherland against terrorism, especially in countering adverse publicity and reaching out in many different ways.

A year ago, I offered a New Year's greeting entitled, Hope for a New Sri Lanka.” Now that the conflict has thankfully ended, and we have a new Sri Lanka, the real work of freedom is only beginning.

The government has launched extensive reconciliation and reconstruction programs and it needs our support and ideas to carry out this work. Many of the changes now underway to heal the war wounds of our nation are not political, but necessary.  We must continue these programs to heal and reconstitute the nation, and to give those who were deprived of peace and prosperity for so long an equal chance to prosper in the new Sri Lanka. It is up to us, as Sri Lankans, to support the New Sri Lanka, and to do all that we can to ensure that suffering has ended for good and  peace overcomes violence and enmity.

I am enthusiastic about that prospect, and this is something we at the Embassy work on every day.  I welcome your active and continued support in the New Year in that task.

We wish you and your family a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous 2010!

Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya &  Priyanga Wickramasuriya