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Lanka will be next powerhouse in South Asia: We are building an economy for the future - PM

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday urged the European Union to enhance its trade ties with Sri Lanka, saying the island nation was poised to become the next powerhouse for trade and commerce in South Asia.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe called for EU preferential trade status for Sri Lanka. "A positive approach by you will help us to help ourselves - no hand outs, just a level playing field on which we can compete as equals," he told the Development Committee of the European Parliament.

"Should you think that this is all a one sided request then let me assure you it isn't. Trade with Sri Lanka will be equally rewarding for your companies," he added.

The Prime Minister's full speech: "Come to Sri Lanka and visit the Vanni, or Jaffna or Chavakachcheri. If you do then you will see the after effects of a war as devastating and complete as any experienced around the world in the last two decades. The destruction, the fear and the trauma will be as great as any you have seen in other conflicts around the world.

Then take a trip down to the South. There you will see the unemployment generated from a war-torn economy. You will see the despair in people's eyes. Would they become the unfortunate victims of a bomb blast or a suicide bomber as they stepped out of their homes each day. The increase in the number of war widows facing an uncertain future is a lasting legacy of the war.

Our war was the forgotten war. I say 'was'. But without your continued support, encouragement and scrutiny we could still slip backwards into conflict once more. I don't believe we shall. Nevertheless we need the spotlight of the international community upon us to make sure that we remain focused upon our task.

Before I develop that theme I would like you to continue your trip of our country. Go to the beaches South of Colombo, or visit our national parks. Delve deep into the mountain areas, admire our waterfalls and visit Adam's Peak. Then return to Colombo or any of our larger cities and talk to our businessmen. Then you will realise the latent potential that is being released as we emerge from war.

Today the theme of my talk was to be "Peace and Capacity Building in Developing Countries - A role for the EU". Please excuse me if I do not talk directly to that subject. For it would seem presumptuous of me to tell you, with all your experience of helping similar countries, about what you should be doing.

Likewise I could talk to you about the three R's, or aid mechanisms, needs assessments, conflict transformation, capacity building and any number of other techno speak issues. No doubt you receive many leaders from around the world who do so in the hope of persuading you to help their countries.

Instead I prefer to talk to you about people. The very people who have been affected by our forgotten war and the people for whom I ask you to continue your support. Later my very able team will be pleased to talk in more technical terms with you.

More than 20 years ago our conflict started. One where Sri Lankan fought against Sri Lankan. I don't intend to go into the history of the conflict. For as John F. Kennedy once said "Our task now is not to fix the blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future." If I were to delve into the past then neither side in the conflict would come out with much credit. That is the way of wars.

The result is a country devastated by war, where whole villages, towns and cities have been razed to the ground and where more than 65,000 people have died. It is a country where weapons are easy to come by and where a child in the North is more likely to step on a landmine than to play on a swing.

Many people in Sri Lanka feel that peace has already been achieved. A dangerous presumption when all we have so far is a ceasefire. Many people in the international community took a sideways glance at the war in Sri Lanka after September 11 and with the ceasefire have turned away once more. They too have made the dangerous assumption that peace is with us.

Twenty years of warfare has created many casualties. Not just human casualties, although that figure alone is disturbing; but casualties in the way we see each other and the pain we have inflicted upon each other.

When the new Government came into office last December we were able to establish a temporary ceasefire. This was turned into a permanent ceasefire in February this year. Since then we have been working hard to ensure that the ceasefire is not broken through misunderstanding, suspicion or wild acts. Everything we do and say is transparent. We believe that there should be no surprises.

Nor do we believe the talks towards peace should be hurried. Something that has been criticized by certain sections. But let me tell you why we are so cautious.

Peace cannot be hurried. Over 20 years of war there have been many wrongdoings on both sides. If you walk into the Vanni you will meet people who believe that the Sinhalese majority only wish to persecute the Tamils. They see the way forward only as a separate homeland of Eelam. That way they may be closeted from the wicked Sinhalese.

But if you were to walk into a Sinhalese home on the outskirts of Colombo you would get a different view. One where there is little animosity towards Tamils as such, but where there is a deep suspicion of the LTTE. For most Sinhalese see the LTTE as a monolithic structure with one man at the top controlling all activities. And they see the division of our island as the sole aim of the LTTE. They seem to forget that our country is currently divided and what we seek to do is to re-unite our peoples.

Nevertheless these views have been reinforced by the stories of the LTTE building up their arms stocks.

Add to this cocktail of suspicion, distrust and fear a third element. That of the Muslim community who have found themselves on more than one occasion as the victims in the middle.

In this environment it will take years of hard work, good communicating and confidence building to breakdown these fears and misconceptions. Should we move too quickly then the whole process could collapse.

Surely than it is better to work slowly. To achieve a small step. Let people absorb the implications of that step before taking the next step. Such incremental progress might just prevent us from returning to war.

I believe that we have started with those small confidence building steps in many positive ways. An early decision of the Government was to allow medicines, food and aid agencies to flow back into the North and East. Then as confidence grew we looked at removing the security barriers around the island.

More recently we have seen the A9 road re-opened for commercial traffic. This is the main road linking the South to the city of Jaffna in the North. The significance of this road is more than a highway. It is a very symbol of the war effort on both sides. For more than 7,000 LTTE cadres and an equal number of soldiers were killed over the years fighting for the control of a 110 kilometres of roadway. Nor was it a simple task to re-open the road. Both sides had laid many landmines, all of which have had to be removed before we could move forward.

With the signing of the permanent ceasefire we had a Memorandum of Understanding governing the ceasefire.

All the tasks we have set ourselves on paper may look easy. Yet each is multi-faceted and takes time to achieve. Each must be done in such a way that we do not compromise our security positions whilst fulfilling our pledges.

And still we are only at the stage of a ceasefire.

We have yet to enter negotiations. When we do so the going will be tough as in any talks between two sides whose views seem hard and fast. Of course the LTTE will negotiate hard for the things they want to achieve. My job is to negotiate a settlement that is acceptable to all our people.

If I did not believe we could achieve peace then I would not be here today. Sri Lanka is a small country and it can easily be overlooked. But many of the techniques applied by the LTTE have found their ways into the hands of other organisations. Too many of our people have been the proving ground for terror techniques applied elsewhere. Resolving the war in Sri Lanka will be a positive effort in the fight against worldwide terrorism.

So what is it that we ask of you in all our efforts?

Well first I wish to thank you all for your support in the past. The EU office in Colombo has been a great source of comfort to us and has seen many positive initiatives.

For the future there are three areas in which we seek your help. The first is in the field of scrutiny. The new world order in which we live is dictated by public opinion and governmental attitudes. We need the world to keep the spotlight firmly focused upon us. We need you to come and watch that we maintain the law of common decent behaviour.

Let me give you one such example of where the EU has already helped. For the past two general elections in our country John Cushnahan and his team of election observers scrutinise our campaigning. They turned the spotlight onto all of us and with their firm, even handed and non-judgemental approach shamed all of us into better democratic ways.

The same can be done for the peace effort. Send your best to scrutinise our efforts; we welcome open criticism of what we are doing. By doing this you will help us to redouble our efforts to keep on the straight and narrow path to peace.

We would also welcome help in rebuilding and professionalising our governmental structures. For with good government we shall be able to move much more quickly in our development efforts.

Encourage your media to report on the peace process. There are many good human interest stories to be told. Their very presence will encourage us to be on our best behaviour.

Then help us to restore the dignity of our people. Today we face a flood of displaced peoples from within Sri Lanka and from India who wish to resettle in their old homes.

It is an encouraging sign that these people feel the peace initiative is sincere enough to risk returning to their homes. Or rather I should say where their homes used to be.

And that is the crux of our problem. The war has seen much destroyed. Whilst we try to rebuild trust and confidence in our peoples we have to give them the basics to lead a dignified life once more. This is as true of the South as the North and East.

Unemployment is a severe problem. We need to get all our children back into school and provide school-leavers enhanced opportunities for employment. We need to build homes, schools and hospitals. We did not allocate enough money for these services in the last few years because of the war. We need to bring the business community back to life.

We need to restore our farming and fishing communities and give them back their livelihoods.

Where we have achieved this the immediate benefits can be seen. Fishermen in the North are slowly returning to their previous jobs. The harvests are plentiful, bringing in good catches. These catches in turn are being sold in the fish markets of Colombo. Because of their quality and because these are an additional source of food it has led to the price of fish falling on the markets.

Whilst the cost of living is still far too high, this is one small and early way in which peace is bringing a real dividend to our people.

We recognise that peace and development come hand in hand. That is why the third element in which we seek help is through trade. Let me be blunt.

The EU has a great reputation for free trade. An economically integrated Free Trade area covering most of Europe. North Africa and the Middle East is on the cards. With the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries you have utilised trade as an instrument for assisting the development process and you are working in Latin America, particularly Mexico and Chile.

The EU is the second largest trading partner for Sri Lanka. Fifty percent of our export earnings from the EU comes from garments and apparel. Some 500,000 female workers in the garment industry rely on these export opportunities. The Multi Fibre Agreement ceases in 2004 and without a Free Trade Agreement we fear that our fragile economy would suffer further.

A vulnerable economy cannot provide the foundation to rebuild a nation. We will need development assistance to rebuild our roads, railways and public buildings. But physical infrastructure alone cannot help release the latent potential of our people. To do so, we need competitive market access for our products. The resulting economic progress will create additional resources to complete the reconstruction effort.

The next few years would be critical to Sri Lanka. On one side we have difficult negotiations in arriving at a sustainable political solution to the ethnic conflict. On the other we have the challenge of economic constraints due to developments in the international trade arena. We are in the unhappy position of being one of the few developing countries which do not have enhanced beneficial preferential access to the European Union.

Our record of governance is good. Our democracy is vibrant and open as our regular elections demonstrate. We are the most liberal in terms of investment and trade policy in all of South Asia. Our labour legislation and policies are second to none. Should we continue to be denied the best possible terms as far as market access is concerned? The people of Sri Lanka may well be inclined to wonder whether good governance and free market policies are conditions for penalties rather than benefits.

A positive approach by you will help us to help ourselves - no hand outs, just a level playing field on which we can compete as equals.

Should you think that this is all a one sided request then let me assure you it isn't. For trade with Sri Lanka will be equally rewarding for your companies. Sri Lanka offers a supply of plentiful skilled labour.

We are ranked ninth in the World Heritage Foundation's 'Economic Freedom Index' for the Asia Pacific region. That is only behind Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and other similarly developed countries. We offer a springboard into the region with generous terms to companies wishing to set up in Sri Lanka.

Seeing is believing and Sri Lanka really is a place for you to visit. Tomorrow, visit us so that you can see what is needed to bring dignity and hope back to the people of the forgotten war. Next year, visit us to see how we are building an economy for the future and a united country rich in its ethnic and religious diversity. And in '10 years' time visit the next powerhouse for trade and commerce in the South Asian Region."

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