Tokyo, June 09: Japan opened a crucial two-day donors conference for Sri Lanka here today with a billion-dollar pledge of aid and disappointment at the decision by Tamil Tiger rebels to boycott the conference. "I am pleased to announce that Japan is prepared to extend up to one billion US dollars to Sri Lanka over the next three years, while reviewing and monitoring carefully the progress made in the ongoing peace process," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told the conference.

"Japan is offering maximum measures of assistance with a view to supporting the peace process in Sri Lanka,” she said. "It is required that Sri Lanka strengthen its capacity to receive assistance so as to ensure the smooth implementation of assistance provided by the international community including Japan," the minister added.

The meeting, which the war-ravaged South Asian Island nation is counting on to provide as much as three billion dollars in aid, has drawn senior officials from key donor countries such as Japan, the United States and the European Union. Top-ranking representatives of the Sri Lankan government are also attending the conference but the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) opted to stay away, continuing their boycott since April 21 of peace negotiations.

"It is disappointing that the LTTE is not with us today," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in a speech that opened the conference.

"I am deeply concerned over the current suspension of the peace talks. I call for the LTTE to immediately return to the negotiating table,” he added. Bureau Report