The United States and Sri Lanka, mutual strategies in development and security

Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration by Robert O. Blake Jr., Ambassador of the United States of America to Sri Lanka and the Maldives at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies on November 28.

SPEECH: Even before coming as Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Colombo University already was known to me as Sri Lanka's oldest and most celebrated university.

Since then, I have come to understand that you count many of Sri Lanka's leading lights such as former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe among your long list of illustrious graduates.

Many of my own Sri Lankan staff at the US Embassy graduated from your prestigious university. It was no accident, therefore, that I made a courtesy call on Vice Chancellor Prof. Hettiarachchy, one of the very first calls that I made.

I accepted your invitation to speak to you today because I wanted to use this valuable opportunity before this distinguished audience to lay out my vision for the future of US-Sri Lankan relations.

The topic is an important one as Sri Lanka finds itself at a crossroad in its history and the United States stands ready to work with you to fashion a future of hope, security and prosperity.

Strategic context

Let me begin by providing the strategic context in which we view Sri Lanka. One of the most important changes in American foreign policy in recent years has been the growing importance of Asia. Indeed the fulcrum of America's foreign policy has shifted from Europe to Asia. This shift has several roots.

Many recent studies have shown that if current trends continue, the four largest economies in the world by 2040 will be the US, China, India and Japan. Already the value of United States trade with Asia exceeds that of our trade with Europe and the gap is likely to grow.

It is in Asia, too, that we see the central challenges to our goal of building a safer, a more prosperous world. It is clear that as we confront terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other transnational challenges, the heartland of those challenges will be in a band of countries that spans from North Korea to the Middle East.

The future of Sri Lanka is therefore very important to us. You are located astride the sea lanes that will carry an increasing proportion of global trade and global energy. You, like us, have taken major steps to build closer ties with India, South Asia's emerging super power.

The Indian and Sri Lankan experience as two successful, market oriented, multi-ethnic democracies can serve as a powerful example to other countries in this often turbulent region.

Sri Lanka faces challenges

But Sri Lanka faces its own challenges today. I have just returned from a meeting in Washington DC last week of the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donors' Conference. We agreed that Sri Lanka today is caught in a downward spiral of hostilities and human rights that must be reversed.

We agreed that the agreement between the Sri Lankan Freedom Party and the United National Party offers a strong potential to result in a power-sharing proposal that could help form the basis for peace talks between the Government and the LTTE and reverse the downward spiral.

And we agreed that this conflict can only be solved through a process of sustained, substantive negotiations that takes into account the legitimate interests and aspirations of all communities, whether Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or others.

The United States also strongly disagrees with LTTE leader Prabakharan's conclusion yesterday that the Tamil people have no option but an independent State.

There is a very clear alternative, which is for the LTTE to renounce terrorism, to give up violence and to join in negotiating a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka's conflict that will satisfy the aspirations of all of the country's people.

If the spike of violence and hostilities we have seen over the last six months continues, it could have profound negative effects on your society and economy. Already thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians have been killed and wounded in the recent hostilities.

Many foreign tourists and investors, alarmed by the daily headlines of violence in Sri Lanka, are choosing to take their tourist and investment dollars elsewhere.

More pernicious but equally damaging is the brain drain that results from young Sri Lankans leaving the country to escape the violence and their Sri Lankan counterparts who are now abroad electing to stay abroad. They represent Sri Lanka's best and brightest. Their absence is felt everywhere.

Finally many Sri Lankans tell me they are very concerned about the climate of fear that now prevails in Sri Lanka's once active civil society as groups such as the Karuna faction and the LTTE have visited death on critics who dared to speak up.

US is a friend of Sri Lanka

The Untied States shares your concerns. As Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told the press after last week's Co-Chairs meeting, "The Sri Lankan people and Government are a good friend to the United States.

We support the Government. We believe the Government has a right to try to protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty.... stability and security in the country.

We also believe that the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE, is a terrorist group responsible for massive bloodshed in the country and we hold the Tamil Tigers responsible for much of what has gone wrong in the country.

We are not neutral in this respect. And therefore we hope very much that the people of Sri Lanka will be able to live in peace in the future."

How specifically is the United States helping Sri Lanka? On the terrorism front, the Untied States was among the first countries in the world to declare the LTTE a Foreign Terrorist Organisation almost a decade ago.

Today we are working productively on the law enforcement side to help Sri Lanka stop the flow of financing and arms to the LTTE.

We demonstrated our help during the sting operation in August by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation during which 15 suspects were arrested for conspiring to buy surface-to-air missiles in the US and trying to bribe US officials to get the Tamil Tigers removed from the US list of terrorist organisations. The FBI subsequently arrested four additional suspects in September in Guam.

On the military front, we are helping to strengthen the Sri Lankan military's ability to defend itself against terrorism through the provision of training and equipment. At the same time, we are very clear both in public and in our private conversations with our friends in the Government that the purpose of our assistance is to help Sri Lanka defend itself.

We do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict. As a friend, we also speak up when we believe military force is being used against non-combatants, even if such force is in response to LTTE provocations. All Governments have a solemn responsibility to protect civilians during armed conflict.

Let me now turn to US-sponsored development in Sri Lanka. The US has been a long-term partner in the development of Sri Lanka. Our assistance programme has evolved to address changing demands.

In response to the devastation of the 2004 tsunami, the US provided $ 134 million to, among other things, construct a new bridge over Arugam Bay, upgrade three damaged fishing harbours, and rehabilitate nine vocational education schools to help provide in-demand skills for the growing workforce.

Outside of the tsunami relief, the US Agency for International Development is working to upgrade computer-based English literacy programmes, bring the Internet to rural areas, and provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations including people living with physical disabilities, with HIV/AIDS, and children and young people affected either by armed conflict or violence at home.

Our economic growth programme improves international competitiveness in eight key trade areas, including coir, rubber, tea, gems & jewellery, tourism, information technology, spices, and ceramics-these businesses employ nearly a third of the country's work force.

The Democracy and Governance program helps generate understanding of the peace process by increasing citizen participation in local decision-making through 62 People's Forums.

The Office of Transition Initiatives similarly supports peace building through small grants to local NGOs, community groups, and media entities. More than 600 of these grants have been issued since 2003.

Education: the wellspring of the future

As I was thinking about Sri Lanka's future and the role America can play, my thoughts kept returning to the importance of education. I am passionate about education. Education is the greatest gift a country can bequeath its citizens. It is the key to personal growth, economic and political enfranchisement, and the development of societies.

I believe that the key to the United States' success over the past 230 years is the high priority we have placed on education.

We were once a developing nation and a former British colony. Broad and easy access to our vibrant, diversified and adaptable education system helped our nation transition first from an agrarian to a manufacturing and then to a modern service economy.

That energetic and dynamic system has empowered women, woven immigrants from every nation and every language into our national fabric and nurtured innovators like civil rights leader Martin Luther King, CNN founder Ted Turner, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.

Sri Lanka's development owes much to the importance you have attached to education. The dedication Sri Lanka has shown to primary education and literacy has created a literacy rate of 93% that is the envy of South Asia.

Last Saturday I was honoured to participate in a symposium organized by the Minister of Education and Sri Lanka's First Lady Mrs. Rajapakse on Achieving the Goals of Education for All.

The Minister set Sri Lanka a goal of achieving 100% literacy by 2010, a full five years ahead of the 2015 figure set at the 2000 World Conference of Education for All in Dakar, Senegal.

As impressive as Sri Lanka's achievement and goals in primary education are, no country can afford to stand on its laurels. There is much that your great country and all of you in particular can do to lead the process of transforming secondary and higher education so Sri Lanka can play a leading role in the Asian 21st century.

Services already account for half of Sri Lanka's gross domestic product. That success is based on your success to date in developing Sri Lanka's greatest asset: your people.

But in the increasingly competitive, globalized economy of the 21st century, what will be Sri Lanka's niche? I submit that the countries that succeed in the 21st century will be those that have the young people with the cutting edge skills and education to compete.

In the spirit of open dialogue, allow me to offer a few thoughts on how Sri Lanka might equip its young people with these skills and education.

Preparing Sri Lanka's eduction system for the twenty-first century will require, in my view, a four-pronged approach:

* Enhancing the role of private universities in Sri Lanka.

* Expanding English-language training;

* Training teachers to teach the skills employers really want; and

* The important alternative of study abroad.

Enhancing the role of private universities

It is no secret that Sri Lanka has a pent up demand for higher education. 119,000 Sri Lankan teenagers recently passed the A level exams, of whom the University Grants Commission will admit some 15,000 into Sri Lanka universities for a free education.

This means that more than 100,000 students will not have the opportunity to achieve their potential, unless they pursue studies abroad.

There is a solution that will not place an undue burden on state coffers: expand education opportunities by allowing private universities to exist alongside public universities.

This is a complementary relationship that fosters academic excellence for both institutions and is the system that has served us so well in the U.S.

The University of Southern California, a private university, does not detract from the University of California at Los Angeles, a public university. Likewise, the public University of North Carolina is undiminished by the private Duke University.

In fact both contribute to North Carolina's famous "research triangle" in which the nation's second largest non-profit organization Research Triangle International, works with both universities and business to conduct research and provide technical services to support business and government in the areas of health, education, advanced technology, energy and the environment.

The close synergy between these institutions ensures that businesses have a pool of well educated college graduates, many of whom received internships while pursuing their studies and thereby pursued targeted studies that ensured they will find a well-paying job with a local firm.

Only a private university offers that kind of flexibility and outreach to the business community. It is a concept that would work well in Sri Lanka.

If the Government were to allow private universities in Sri Lanka, I know that American universities would be interested to establish campuses here in partnership with local universities.

Thanks to the growth of India's economy, and the success of India's 80,000 students in the United States, there has been a boom in South Asian studies in the U.S. Sri Lanka would be well placed to capitalize on this boom, because of the friendly relations it enjoys with India and the U.S. and your reputation as a friendly, welcoming country. If Temple University, for example, can have a campus in Tokyo, why shouldn't Cornell be in Colombo?

Training teachers

Experience in America and elsewhere has shown that learning occurs when students are interested in and are really thinking about the subject matter. Rote lecture does little to teach the skills that today's employers need. Rote lecture and test prep get students to know facts. But employers need them to be able to think creatively and critically.

That is why is the Ministry of Education has found unemployment rates of 34% among A-level graduates and 26% among university graduates.

Interactive instruction methods, such as discussion, debates and real-life service learning projects teach leaderships, team work, and communication. Teachers usually find highly interactive classrooms exciting once they know how to empower students effectively.

Teachers at all levels can benefit from training in teaching empowered, active students. USAID plans to integrate training in interactive teaching into our future assistance program to help better prepare teachers to teach the skills employers need in their new hires.

Study abroad

Today, in part because of the absence of private universities, many young Sri Lankans go abroad to pursue their higher education. It will not surprise you that I am a strong advocate of American's higher education system and the opportunities there for students of all nationalities.

The United States has more than 4,000 institutions of higher learning, and some 900 different degree programs, ranging from accounting to zoology.

Foreign students tell us they enjoy studying in the U.S. because of the open, welcoming atmosphere, the diversity of the student body, the wide range of course offerings, and the excellent research opportunities.

These students know and benefit from the fact that America is a center of undisputed academic excellence. To select one measure of this: 242 of the 758 Nobel prize winners have been Americans.

Many of these were researchers based at American universities where they had the freedom and flexibility to pursue their interests. Today's students have access to those same world-class laboratories and resources.

In 2006, there are approximately 2000 Sri Lankans studying in the United States in schools ranging from Harvard and Yale to the University of Wisconsin and Truman State University, a public liberal arts and sciences school in the heartland state of Missouri.

U.S. schools value diversity and actively seek out foreign students. Overall, in the 2005/06 academic year, the number of international students enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions was 564,766 according to Open Doors 2006, the annual report on international academic mobility published by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The United States remains the country of choice for international study by a considerable margin.

The reason for that is simple: freedom and diversity. Our universities do not have streams, tracks or paths. They offer possibilities, and the capacity to achieve your dreams, whatever they are. American universities don't train engineers or accountants, they educate the whole person and arouse passions.

Astronaut Sally Ride majored in English, former Secretary of State Colin Powell majored in Geology, best-selling author John Grisham has degrees in accounting and law - to name just a few famous Americans who used their educations as the base from which to launch their lives.

In partnership with the Sri Lanka Full bright Foundation, there is a full time education advisor at the Foundation office in Colombo to help students through the application process and help make students aware of the financial aid and scholarships available to outstanding foreign students. We hope to expand that service around the island in the near future.

English language training

The fourth area where Sri Lanka can do more to help its youth prepare to compete in the 21st century is to improve English language training. English has become the universal langauge of business and science.

Practical examples abound just in this region alone. It is so critical to uniting the Malay, Tamil and Chinese communities of Singapore that it is an official language in that former colony.

Business processes are migrating in record numbers to India not only because the cost of labour is low, but because India's labour pool speaks English.

Sri Lanka's business leaders tell me they need graduates who speak English, but they regret that the number of educated young people who also speak English is not sufficient.

The United States is helping to meet this demand. Under the English Access Mirco-scholarship programme of the U.S. Agency for International Development, 156 Sri Lankan teens attend English tuition at the Gateway Language Centers for two years.

USAID also is investing $368,000 to train 150 teachers in computer-based English learning at eight computer centers across the island.

More recently we provided a $16,000 grant to educate 60 English teachers, all of whom just passed the Cambridge Teaching Knowledge Test. They, in turn, will train other teachers, creating a cascade of English teaching that will have a real impact on the future of English in Sri Lankan schools.

We understand that not everyone has time to attend classroom-based instruction, so the Voice of America has provided two English language learning television series to Sri Lankan broadcasters free of charge, to be shown over the airwaves for English instruction in the comfort of one's own home.

These programs will help, but English should be reintroduced into the core curriculum of Sri Lanka's primary and secondary schools.

In closing, let me thank the University of Colombo Alumni Association for giving me this opportunity to speak. I am an optimist about Sri Lanka's future.

The effort by the SLFP and UNP to forge a power-sharing proposal that can form the basic for talks with the LTTE, offers the best opportunity in years to begin a process of sustained peace negotiations that could finally bring an end to conflict in Sri Lanka.

Peace would bring a virtuous cycle of new investment, and a return of Sri Lanka's best and brightest from abroad.

If the peace dividend can be seized, the government, the business community and concerned citizens like all of you can unite to open your education system and allow your young people the chance to realize their dreams, and Sri Lanka will then prosper in this new Asian century and serve as a beacon for others. As your steadfast friend, the United States stands ready and willing to help you realize that goal.