Daily News Editorial

A gainful visit

07 October 2016

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe undertook two very important official visits last week. His visit to New Zealand was the first by a Sri Lankan Prime Minister in an official capacity. He was accorded a rousing welcome and the visit resulted in many significant gains for Sri Lanka. New Zealand is known for its prowess in the dairy industry and Sri Lanka is poised to benefit from technical cooperation in that field. A number of other mutually beneficial agreements were also signed.

No less important is the Prime Minister’s visit to New Delhi where he had a two-pronged agenda: he was due to participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) India Economic Summit, a gathering of world leaders and business leaders and he also held bilateral meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Indian leaders.

The Prime Minister’s participation at this WEF signifies the fact that Sri Lanka has truly arrived on the world stage. The Premier is no stranger to the WEF (Davos) concept but his participation at the WEF in our region at this particular juncture sends an even stronger message to the International Community that Sri Lanka is open and ready to do business with the rest of the world. The Regional Summit will focus on issues like digital transformation and regional economic integration, two issues which the premier has spoken passionately about here and abroad.

Although Sri Lanka is on the 71st spot of the WEF annual rankings, the WEF has described Sri Lanka as the “most advanced economy in the region, with a stable score”. The report noted that “after years of conflict, the country needs to concentrate on triggering the efficiencies that will drive further growth — for example, by restructuring the labour market and investing in technological readiness, where it lags significantly behind economies at a similar stage of development.”

Commenting on the region the report said: “the region remains diverse, with a core of three heavyweight economies — India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh — surrounded by smaller ones such as Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, each with its own peculiarities and unique development path”. The Government is keen to place the business potential of the country in the context of the greater South Asian region. The Premier is likely to the forum to explain about the country’s investment potential, as he did at similar other forums in South Korea and Singapore recently.

His meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlights the excellent level of relations between the two neighbouring countries. Premier Modi has said that India’s relations with Sri Lanka have transcended the diplomatic boundaries and this bond will help further cooperation in many fields between the two nations.

Significantly, the meeting coincided with the postponement of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan due to various reasons. A stable South Asia is essential for regional prosperity but unfortunately the present impasse is not helping the cause of SAARC. Hence the Prime Minister’s assertion that SAARC risks a bleak future if the problem of terrorism and other regional issues are not addressed without delay. All SAARC countries with the exception of Bhutan have faced terrorist problems and it is in their interest to collectively work to eliminate this threat.

The two Prime Ministers also came to an agreement to hold a high level meeting in New Delhi on November 5 aimed at reaching sustainable solutions to the problems faced by the fishermen of both countries. This meeting will be attended by the Foreign Ministers and Fisheries Ministers of both countries. The fishermen’s conflict must be solved through diplomatic means as it affects the livelihoods of people across both sides of the International Maritime Boundary Line. Both Prime Ministers also focused on how to ensure free naval movement by maintaining peace in the Indian Ocean maritime region.

Sri Lanka is also keen to join India’s ambitious Sagarmala project that aims to harness its 7,500-km coastline and inland waterways and step up cooperation with four South Indian states to form a US$ 500 billion sub-regional economy, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said. This falls in line with the Government’s plans to take maximum advantage of the country’s strategic location at the centre of East and West shipping routes via Colombo and Hambantota Ports, along with the proposed Colombo International Financial City in the heart of Colombo.

Sri Lanka’s future prospects lie in deeper integration with South Asia and indeed the rest of the world, not isolationism. There are political and social elements that practically live on India-phobia who see everything from ETCA to Indian lines of credit as an attempt by a big neighbour to gobble up a smaller neighbour. The National Unity Government has clarified the true situation with regard to ETCA and other issues. We live in a globalised world and our market is just too small for our economy to rely on. We must reach out to the wider world. It is time for the rabble rousers to comprehend this simple truth.