Canadian FM to visit Jaffna today

Visiting Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Shelley Whiting together with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Peter Batchelor will visit the Northern Province today.

As part of the mission, the Foreign Minister and the rest of the delegation will visit a Canada-funded UNDP Project site, ‘Siddha Medicine Production Sales and Service Cooperative Society (COPHARM)’ in Jaffna today afternoon. Issuing a statement, the UNDP said Canada had partnered them and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to strengthen agro economic sector in the North of Sri Lanka “The Canadian government had allocated 6 Million Canadian Dollars to the ‘Agro-Economic Development Project’, which will benefit over 11,000 households across the Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts,” it said. During the visit, the high level delegation will declare open the newly constructed Siddha Medicine Production, Sales and Service Centre, a Centre which is now equipped to improve product quality and cater to the increasing demand of herbal medicinal products. The centre will also include a research and library facility to provide knowledge and learning opportunities to Siddha Medicine undergraduates.