Colombo, July 14 (IANS) Sri Lanka has asked the Tamil diaspora to start investing in the northern region to uplift the living conditions of their community, a minister said Thursday.


"If the Tamil diaspora is serious in helping the Tamil community, now is the time to do so," Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa said in the northern town of Jaffna.

Rajapaksa said the government was in the process of providing the infrastructure that was devastated by the three-decade-long conflict with the Tamil Tigers, Xinhua reported.

The Tamil diaspora - estimated to be over a million people who live in Western nations - fled Sri Lanka when the clashes began in the island in July 1983.

Since the government crushed the insurgency in May 2009, the government has been making an effort to woo the diaspora to engage positively with the government.