US Ambassador to Sri Lanka conducts a live Facebook chat

Colombo (News 1st): The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz conducted a live facebook chat earlier today (July 17) via the official Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy of Colombo. Answering a question posed to her inquiring as to whether the Millenium Challenge Corporation compact establishes an economic corridor between Colombo and Trincomalee, the Ambassador has said that the MCC Compact is merely a development assistance agreement. Elaborating further, the Ambassador says the Government of Sri Lanka and MCC had identified weak transport infrastructure and weak land administration practices as two binding constraints to economic growth in Sri Lanka, thus the MCC Compact with a total budget of US$ 480 million was introduced, in order to address these constraints. In reply to a query posed, questioning if USAID can support Sri Lanka in other avenues apart from transport and land administration, the U.S. Ambassador has said roughly US$ 40 million of development assistance, which she has stressed are not loans, is provided mostly through USAID which is one US Government Development Assistance provider. The chat was aimed at discussing the strength of the US- Sri Lanka relationship and also to address recent misinformation that has been spreading.

Hoodwinking the government and Hoodwinking the people are two different things.