Announcement of Ceylon Aid Meeting on March 8, 1968

I N.TERNAT'! . : RECO [\JT 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D: C. 2.0433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 March 8, 1968 Subject: Ceylon Aid Meeting The following aanouncement was issued today at the World Bank's European Office in Paris: "The fourth meeting of the group of countries interested in aid to Ceylon met in Paris on March 7, 1968 under the chairmanship of the World Bank. The following countries were represented: Australia, Canada, trance, Germany, ~ Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Representatives of the Inter- national Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank and observe.rs from India and Italy also attended the meeting. The Ceylon delegation was led by Dr. Gamani Corm, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairso • 11 The group was encouraged by the continued progress made by the Government since the last meeting in April 1967 in overcoming basic obstacles to economic growth. In particular it welcomed the increases in agricul~ural and industrial production although it recognized that continued declines in the prices of Ceylon's principal exports had hindered growth. 11 The group noted that what had started in eariy 1965 as a holding operation had been trans/ormed into a growth effort. It discussed the longer term prospects and. endorsed the\.basic development strategy of the Government in continuing to promot~ efficient production for domestic use with particular emphasis on increased food production. It indicated willingness to consider future support related to the progress of this development strategy and to the capacity of individual members. \\ ":ereliminary indfeations ''by members of th,e group of their aid intentions during the r,~st of 1968'~ together with a{d from earlier commitments, suggest that Ceylon • can expect a higher level of ai41d imports during 1968 than in 1967. A number of .i / projects would be ready for financing shortly, some of whi~h were expected to be suitable for Bank/IDA financing. "The group i)rovisionally agreed to meet again early in 1969."