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Speech delivered by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar, PC MP, at the Technology Senate 2004, organised by The Indian Express and John Keells Holdings and held in Colombo at the Colombo Plaza Hotel on October 28.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar

A few days ago sections of the press had reported that hundreds of Indian fishermen had tied white flags on their boats to show their resolve to send ten thousand Indian fishermen across the narrow waters that separate our two countries to Sri Lanka on the 28th of October if their demands on certain matters were not met.

The 28th has come and almost gone as I speak. Today the navies of Sri Lanka and India are on alert in the Palk Strait to avert a possible calamity at sea. However, I am in the happy position of being able to inform you that as the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka I did not have to face an armada of irate Indian fishermen sailing to our shores with menacing intent to vindicate their rights. Instead, I am here tonight to offer a warm and cordial welcome to a distinguished shoal of benign Indian businessmen and their ladies who have come to Colombo to discuss nothing more deadly than the multi-faceted complexities of modern information technology. I do of course hope, very much, that while they are here they will embark on a different kind of fishing expedition - the search for business. If that be so, the world price of crude oil begin what it is, we would not have to waste that precious commodity by pouring it on troubled waters.

I note that the list of invitees to this event, billed as the largest technology summit ever held in Sri Lanka, includes Wipro, Reliance, Bharat Petroleum, Mahindra and Mahindra, Jet Airways, Bajaj Electric, Gestetner, Sahara Airlines, Hero Honda, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Coca Cola, Tata Motors, Godrej, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Petroleum, Stock Exchanges, Siemens, Hindustan Times, Samsung, Ministry of Steel, Indian Airlines, ICICI Bank and Satyam among many others. This is a veritable who's who of the information technology industry in India and perhaps of the world. The giants are here tonight - the Maharajahs of Indian IT. The hall is ablaze with stars. I understand that you will discuss the economic utility of efficacious and constructive interaction between information technology experts from India and Sri Lanka. The fruits of your discussions are expected to be potential join ventures, investment in the IT and IT related sectors, the possibilities of BPOs (Business processing and Outsourcing) and ITES (IT Enabled Services), call centres in Sri Lanka and synergizing the respective strengths and IT prowess of the two countries, particularly India. I also noticed with much satisfaction that this summit is intended to portray Sri Lanka as a highly desired tourist destination which is why I took the opportunity of having a short film on some of Sri Lanka's scenic attractions shown to you before my address.

As an IT-illiterate Foreign Minister I have no words of wisdom to offer to all of you, the proven masters of your trade, on the intricacies of your own subject. I would merely wish to offer some thoughts on the place of the IT sector in the political and economic context in which you have to operate.

Last year a Joint Study Group was set up consisting of Government and private sector representatives of India and Sri Lanka to make recommendations on how to take the two economies beyond trade towards greater integration and to impart renewed impetus and synergy to the bilateral economic interaction, through the conclusion of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Let me quote a pertinent paragraph from the study. "Many observers agree that South Asia is poised for explosive growth in the ICT sector. India's information Technology (IT) and IT Enabled Services (ITES) industries have established themselves in the world market, to the extent that India is almost a brand name in relation to IT. The telecommunications sector is among the leading growth sectors in Sri Lanka. India is home to many innovative e-government and rural outreach projects. Sri Lanka recently launched and ambitious e-Sri Lanka Initiative intended to enable all its citizens to participate in the global information economy and society. Without question, ICT is critical to the near term economic and social progress of both countries. The Joint Study Group recognises as imperative co-operation in the ICT sector".

While these observations are perfectly valid there is yet another dimension, to which attention has recently been forcefully drawn, that requires to be considered.

Unquestionably,t he IT revolution is the primary driving force of globalisation. Certainly, IT has moved the world forward. But it has also divided the world into two new categories of haves and have nots. And thus to explain this contradiction a new expression - the digital divide - has emerged. This divide was initially between developed and developing countries - the North and the South. But today, the innovative minds and entrepreneurial skills of South Asia have closed that gap to a very great extent. Our people have proved not only that they have the nimble fingers that have taken our garment exports to the top of that league but the agile brains, tutored in our age-old tradition of mathematical excellence, to take them to the top of the IT league. Between the city centres with IT excellence in South asia and those in developed countries, perhaps there is no digital divide at all. I am happy to welcome the main actors in this drama, from India, who have catapulted our region to the front-rank of IT expertise on par with the best anywhere.

However, in South Asia as we are all well aware, the vast majority of our people still live in rural areas. Have they been touched by the IT revolution in a manner that brings them tangible social and economic progress? Have the rural masses benefited from IT solutions? The answer is probably no.

In two recent Parliamentary general elections in South Asia - in Sri Lanka and India - the people sent to all their political parties an emphatic message: while seeking the dazzling fruits of globalisation, do not forget the basic needs of us, the people; while free enterprise, the market economy, international financial aid, foreign direct investment and other manifestations of the economic climate of our time, including impressive IT achievements, undoubtedly have an important place in building the economies of our countries, it must never be forgotten that if the people at large do not enjoy the fruits of development strategies they will be driven to express their dissatisfaction in the classical manner known to democracies - by using their precious vote to chastise and drive out governments that do not respect their needs and aspirations, that betrayed their confidence and dashed the hopes they raised of a better quality of life. All our parties will have to heed this message, to listen to the voice of the people. The private sector will have to do so too.

It is now a tired cliche that the onward march of globalisation is making the world a global village. If that be so, the fruits of economic progress must be made available to each and every country, to every city and, indeed, most importantly to every village.

In most of our countries the vast majority of our people still live in rural areas. We simply have to find ways and means of integrating the village in the globalisation process.

It is therefore the responsibility not only of the government but the IT industry, its experts, its corporate executives to find ways and means of doing so. This needs social consciousness and responsibility but most of all the spirit of innovation which will spur the development of appropriate IT technologies that are easily accessible, affordable and meaningful for the rural masses, so that they could also become stakeholders and partners in progress in the new IT era. That is the challenge before the IT practitioners of South Asia. They need to find ways and means of expanding network to reach out to the hundreds of millions of South Asia. The tradition of invention and entrepreneurship is by no means foreign to our region. We must look to the day which I am sure will not be far off when South Asia led by the IT wizards of India will make the IT revolution a truly global phenomena by taking it to every city, every village and every person in all our countries.

Sri Lanka is committed to facilitate the forward march of the IT industry in our region. The hosting of this meeting of the Technology Senate 2004 is a manifestation of that commitment. In continuation of similar efforts by December this year we will host the ICT Summit 2004 and the Exhibition of the Asian Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation, popularly known as ASOCIO. That ICT meeting representing 24 economies in this region will meet in Colombo when over 600 delegates representing ICT Sectors and Governments will participate in workshops, conferences and exhibitions. This is perhaps one of the largest gatherings of this nature in our region and I am sure we will see some of you once again in December. As I come to the close of this address let me move away from the woes of fishermen from the problems of taking the IT revolution to the rural masses from the chilling message that the peoples of our two countries have issued to their political masters - these are no doubt weighty matters. But let me dwell on another critical question. We in South Asia suffer from a deadly disease which has reached endemic proportions - no, I am not speaking at the moment of HIV/AIDS. I am speaking of a disease that is kind of madness. It is called cricket. I have no doubt that all you distinguished gentlemen and the ladies also are fanatical followers of this weird game.

Our devotion to this game is a visceral bond that binds us in dissolubly together. When we are not playing against each other our peoples glory in each others deeds - whether it be a masterful century by Sachin Tendulkar or an explosive one by Sanath Jayasuriya or whether it be Anil Kumble running through the Australian side or Muralitharan taking sixteen wickets at Lords. We support each other. We rejoice in our victories and together mourn our defeats. I felt, therefore that I should share with you some words which I wrote a month ago for a speech delivered at a dinner in London in honour of the Sri Lankan cricket team - unfortunately on the very night that they lost an important match.

"Ladies and gentlemen, some historians say, I think uncharitably, that cricket is really a diabolical political strategy, disguised as a game, in fact a substitute for war, invented by the ingenious British to confuse the native by encouraging them to fight each other instead of their imperial rulers. The world is divided into two camps - those who revel in the intricacies of cricket and those who are totally baffled by it, who cannot figure out why a group of energetic young men should spend days, often in the hot sun or bitter cold, chasing a round object across an open field, hitting it from time to time with a stick - all to the rapturous applause of thousands, now millions, of ecstatic spectators across the world. The game has developed a mystical language of its own that further bewilders those who are already befuddled by its complexities.

"In the course of my travels I have a hard time explaining to the non-cricketing world - in America, China, Europe and Russia - that a googly is not an Indian sweetmeat; that a square cut is not a choice selection of prime beef; that a cover drive is not a secluded part of the garden; that a bouncer is not a muscular janitor at a night club; that a yorker is not some exotic cocktail mixed in Yorkshire; that a leg break is not a sinister manoeuvre designed to cripple your opponent's limbs below the waist."

As a politician who played cricket once upon a time I venture the following comparisons between politics and cricket:

"Both are games. Politicians and cricketers are superficially similar and yet very different. Both groups are wooed by the cruel public who embrace them today and reject them tomorrow. Cricketers work hard; politicians only pretend to do so.

Cricketers are disciplined; discipline is a word unknown to most politicians in any language. Cricketers risk their own limbs in the heat of honourable play; politicians encourage others to risk their limbs in pursuit of fruitless causes while they remain secure in the safety of their pavilions. Cricketers deserve the rewards they get; the people get the politicians they deserve. Cricketers retire young; politicians go on forever. Cricketers unite the country; politicians divide it. Cricketers accept the umpire's verdict even if they disagree with it; politicians who disagree with an umpire usually get him transferred. Cricketers stick to their team through victory and defeat; politicians in a losing team cross over and join the winning team. Clearly cricketers are the better breed." I would like to close with a word of appreciation for three institutions - the Indian Express for having organised this very impressive event, John Keells Holdings for being the focal point in Colombo for this event and our High Commissioner in India, Mangala Moonesinghe for all that he has done to bring this event to fruition. He is also an institution. I did not get my words wrong.

As I leave you, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to wish you all, our honoured guests from India, once more, a warm welcome to Sri Lanka. You will be at home here. You will make many friends here. The visa restrictions have been considerably relaxed. Come and go as you please.

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