Remarks following meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen

FOREIGN MINISTER PETERSEN: Good morning. Just a couple of words. We have met for the first time and I am very, very happy we had the opportunity to come over for this conference on Sri Lanka. It is an extremely important thing that we are all very committed to…that you are committed to solving it. Thank you.

I took the opportunity now of discussing a wide range of issues, Sri Lanka, Asia, trans-Atlantic relations, the environmental issues up north, and I think we covered quite a lot of ground in this session. The necessity very good open communication across the Atlantic following the very successful NATO summit last week, which really …incoherent.

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. I’m delighted to be here. An invitation from Norway to take part in this conference on Sri Lanka is one America is not going to miss. And we are in awe of the skill and the energy that you have put in to the search for peace in Sri Lanka and we want to play our part to support you on that. I certainly echo what you had to say about the importance of the trans-Atlantic dialog. We are delighted to continue discussions we’ve begun at Prague. I have taken the time to note to the Minister the United States’ appreciation for steadfast support in the United Nations Security Council as we work toward Resolution 1441 and from my government’s behalf we pledge to continue these close in-depth consultations with our friends here in Oslo.

QUESTION: Mr. Armitage, would the US at some stage consider dropping the LTTE from the list of foreign terrorist organizations?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: I think it is certainly premature to speculate on that now. The LTTE would have to renounce terrorism as an instrument of policy once and for all and then make sure that the words are followed by deeds and then we can take a look at it.

QUESTION: Do you plan any action today sir or any kind of demonstration in connection with the media? Will you attend all four sessions?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: I am going to attend as much of the sessions as possible, both this morning and this afternoon. I also have the opportunity to call on other government officials here today. I will do that as well. I am interested in making some remarks on behalf of my government and am certainly interested in hearing the remarks of the other participants as we prepare ourselves for an eventual donors conference in Tokyo.

QUESTION: Will you be in the room to listen to the rebel negotiators there?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: I certainly intend to.

QUESTION: What sort of assistance can we see the United States pledging at the conference today?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Well I’m going to talk about sectors of assistance and certainly we have been very active in de-mining and we are interested in issues of child soldiers, education, rule of law, general transparency and I will discuss those sectors.

QUESTION: Did you discuss Iraq?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: With the Minister?

QUESTION: Yes

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Well of course I’ve discussed Iraq.

QUESTION: Did you come any closer to deciding what sort of Norwegian participation there would be in a possible war?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: I didn’t come to ask anything of the minister or the government, just to discuss the present state of play and to express our appreciation for the support for Resolution 1441.

QUESTION: In terms of financial assistance, what kind of financial assistance would you want to give Sri Lanka?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Well, I will speak about out previous assistance. Our budget cycle is not complete. We don’t have an ’03 budget yet so it is difficult for me to speak with absolute assurance about what the congress is going to leave us. But I think that you will see from our remarks our intent is to substantially increase our assistance to Sri Lanka.

QUESTION: Did you discuss North Korea?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: : Briefly.