While claiming that Sri Lanka was on track to meet most of the millennium development goals (MDGs) including poverty, Britain however said on Wednesday that poverty still exists in areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka where large numbers of Tamils live.

 

In response to a question raised by a Labour Party Parliamentarian in the UK parliament about an assessment on the levels of poverty among Tamils living in Sri Lanka, Minister of State, Department for International Development Alan Duncan said: “Sri Lanka has met millennium development goal No. 1 which calls for the halving of extreme poverty, and is on track to meet most of its other MDGs. Poverty remains in areas of northern and eastern Sri Lanka where large numbers of Tamils live. We do not have a breakdown by ethnic group however, he said.”