"We will do whatever possible to not allow terrorists or their front organizations to raise funds," said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Dora Bokayannis referring to inclusion of the LTTE in the list of terrorist organizations. Greek Minister said this when she met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday in Athens.

\The Government of Greece has agreed to provide Coast Guard training to Sri Lanka. Greece is believed to be one of the foremost country in Europe that stands with a highly advance system of naval and shipping.

The statement made by the Greece Foreign Minister is another positive energetic response which strengthen the chain of ‘combating terrorism internationally'. With in the last couple of months the Government succeeded in putting forward the real image of the LTTE terrorists to the international community. These incidents led the foreign nations to investigate activities of LTTE terrorists in Europe and to take stern action against them.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister while explaining the present situation of the country stated that the Government under the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa is always committed bring about a negotiated settlement to the problem but the reluctance shown by the LTTE to come to the negotiating table has hindered the peace process.

Mr. Bogollagama while requesting the international community to apply pressure on the LTTE to stop terrorism and to return to the negotiation table also sought the cooperation of them in combating terrorism by obstructing the mechanisms of illegal arms smuggling, fund raising, drug smuggling, money laundering and human smuggling carried out by the LTTE in most of the European countries through their internationally spread network.

He also noted that out of the 25 districts in Sri Lanka only two and half districts were affected by LTTE activity and therefore when countries issue travel advisories it is important to mention that the remaining areas of the country is safe to travel