<span style="color: #222222;">Sri Lankan government today launched an economic development framework for war-affected northern province to ensure its long-term growth and development. The framework accepts that the outcomes of post-war development programmes have been inadequate, particularly lack of viable employment and incomes for local population. It said that the strategy centred on building infrastructure, and expansion of credit has not met the expectations with the region lagging behind from rest of the country in terms of economic indicators. The framework called for two-pronged strategy on strengthening the economic base while supporting initiatives for export development. Releasing the framework, finance minister Mangala Samarweera highlighted the initiatives taken by the government during last budget in this direction. However, several Tamil MPs from the province lamented the slow implementation of policies and shortage of livelihood options for the war-affected families. One MP underlined that there are 90 thousand families headed by war widows in the affected districts and special plans should be devised to absorb them in the workforce.</span><br />