The full text of the address to the diplomatic corps by the President of Sri Lanka released by the Presidential Secretariat today follows

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for your presence this afternoon which I value very much.
Let me at the outset also thank you for the messages of felicitation sent on behalf of your countries and on your own behalf on the electoral successes of my Party and myself.

I am aware that some of you have served a long period in Sri Lanka. When I met you earlier, the terrorists were in control of fifteen thousand sq km of the land extent and two thirds of the coastal belt of our country.

The policies of my Government on democracy and human freedom have
remained unchanged from then. I launched the operations against the threat posed at the time by LTTE terrorism to all communities, because there was no other way to establish democracy in this country.

For full speech
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