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Monday, 18 May 2009

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Business community hails the President:

Time to begin economic war

The business community hailed the victory of the President and the Armed Forces in liberating the country from the LTTE terrorists and pledged the fullest support to the Government and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.


President Mahinda Rajapaksa participated in the Lower and Middle-Income Countries G11 Summit which was held last week and retuned to Sri Lanka yesterday. A large crowd who were thrilled with the nations victory gathered to welcome their leader at the Bandaranayake International Airport (BIA). Here president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the BIA saluting the people at his arrival at the BIA.

President, International Chamber of Commerce Tissa Jayaweera :

“The victory is great and now we have to win the economic war”, President, International Chamber of Commerce Tissa Jayaweera said. We must develop the whole country including the rural areas and not only in the North and East. The ICC will support the development process by providing education and skills development facilities for the displaced families, he said.

Past President, Federation of Chamber of Commerce of Industries of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) Nawaz Rajabdeen:

“President Rajapaksa will go in the history as a king who saved the country and appreciated his teamwork with Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Service Commanders. The whole country is celebrating with pride except some western countries. He said that Sri Lanka will be a strong country in the region with the support of the Sri Lankan diaspora returning.

Chairperson Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Trendy Wear (Pvt) Ltd Ramya Weerakoon:

“The Chamber is looking forward to develop the country and people by improving business in areas such as agriculture, fisheries and other industries. She said that the biggest barrier is no more and the country will prosper with the continuous support of the people. Trendy Wear has already organized over one million goods to be sent to the North for the war heroes.

President of Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) Kosala Wickramanayake:

“We are happy to see the end of this war.”

The business community have their greatest appreciation of President Rajapaksa and the Sri Lanka Forces. President Rajapaksa showed that he could win the war and now he will show how he could win the economic war in the country,” he said.

“For three decades all the investments and developments in the country were hampered by this war and now the country needs to focus more on development, exports, tourism and vocational training,” he said.

“Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) need to be rehabilitated without any delay and we need the assistance from the international community to help these people get their lives back to normalcy,” he said.

“We have already discussed with Chambers in these areas on what kind of assistance they need to bounce businesses in these areas back. We expect to launch special projects to assist entrepreneurs in these areas,” he said.

President of National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) Lal de Alwis:

No other leader could take such a bold decision on behalf of this country. There was no permanent settlement for this problem during the past 30 years. But President Rajapaksa was able to end this problem, he said.

“With the end of this war we can expect a huge economic resurgence in the country and we can witness this within the next two to three years. Many foreign investors are keen on investing in Sri Lanka and this victory will draw more foreign direct investments to the country,” he said.


W.K.H.Wegapitiya


Tissa Jayaweera


Nawaz Rajabdeen


Rienzie Wijetilike


Kosala Wickramanayake

The Sri Lankan Tourism industry was badly impacted due to the war and as a Chamber, which promotes tourism, we can expect positive growth in this sector with this victory. The North and the East will contribute heavily to the GDP growth in the country,” he said.

“NCCSL is expecting to fund SME’s in the North East areas through their business promotion fund and accelerate their rehabilitation process to get them back business.

The Chamber is planning to have a special fund raised among the national and international business community to facilitate rehabilitation of IDPs in these areas. We have appointed a special committee for this project,” he said.

Chairman Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Ajith Dias:

“We all are very happy and delighted by this victory. The country’s next step will be in developing the North and the East. The apparel sector will be in the forefront of these developments.

Accelerating rehabilitation of these IDPs is important and we need help from the international community for rehabilitating these people. As the private sector we need to expand our businesses in these areas. Some companies in the apparel sector has already set up factories in the Eastern Province. The apparel sector will have easy access to the human resources available in these areas,” he said.

President of the Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka Srilal Miththapala:

“The tourism industry is happy that the war had come to an end. The security situation had dramatically improved portraying a better picture of Sri Lanka.

Foreign embassies will remove adverse travel advisories, which will be a huge boost for the tourism industry,” he said.

“The private sector will have a huge role to play in rehabilitating people in the North and the East. The private sector needs to look at business expansion in these areas. The tourism industry could establish hotel schools in these areas to develop skills of the youth in the North and East,” he said.

President of the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) Rohan Fernando:

“We are all relieved that we have finally achieved this victory. Now of course as happy as we are, we cannot just be like that. It’s our nation’s duty to find the IDPs places to settle in.

“Also there are certain foreign countries that are bound to make issues from the status of the IDPs who have been placed in temporary areas. It is time we move out of Colombo and start our operations in these areas. We can develop the economic sector to a great extent here. We have to be hopeful as well as be cautious as well. We pass our congratulations to the forces, the Government and the Defence Secretary for a job well done”, he said.

Director and General Secretary of Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (Slasscom) Madu Ratnayake: “

This victory will have a significant impact on the country’s economy. Lack of peace in the country impacted many industries including the IT and BPO industry. When the security situation improves more IT and BPO investments will be attracted to the country.

Everybody has a major role to play in rehabilitating the North and East. SLASSCOM expects to support training and development of people in the North and the East to enhance their skills,” he said.

CEO, Chamber of Construction Industry, Dakshitha Thalgodapitiya:

“The domestic construction industry is recording a downturn at present, but the victory will provide reconstruction opportunities for the industry where there will be foreign investment in large scale in sectors such as infrastructure, tourism and agriculture.

Chairman HNB Rienzie Wijetilike:

“We are extremely happy that after 30 years we have gained peace in this country and brought the country to the state it was in the 60s”.

All citizens should now rally around and be together and keep the country free of terrorism and re-establish prosperity in the country.

The time has come for us to offer our strength to the Government in developing the country with funds and show the foreign people what we can do. For the time being we can utilize the resources we have, and when it is necessary we can get funds from foreign countries to help us in the development of the country.

If there is a planned strategy for rehabilitating the country, we will be ready to give a hand and if we join with the North, there will be a huge boost for the economy.

For the foreign people who have showed sympathy towards the terrorists it is time to let them know that we gained peace in the correct manner and the whole world should realize that we have done everything to protect the civilians and rescuing them from the hands of terror.

With this great victory we can now construct the country to be a better place for our future generation.

Chairman of Laugfs Holdings W.K.H. Wegapitiya:

“We are celebrating! This is the biggest achievement for the country so far. This is a memorable occasion and this has proved the ability of the Sri Lankans to the international community who thought we couldn’t do anything.

I remember, about two and a half years ago we had posed this question to some ambassadors we met what they would do to eradicate terrorism.

Their response was that this war is simply an ethnic conflict and this cannot be settled nor eliminated. But we proved them wrong in many ways. We invited the LTTE for peace talks and negotiations but they wanted to have two nations and to get that they killed many innocent civilians.

The military did their part and as true Sri Lankans, Sri Lanka will show a shining economy to the world. Sri Lanka is better in all terms and areas.

There are multiple impacts this victory has towards the economy and one is the perception and attitude. There was a lot of people who said that we couldn’t win this war and there were the political parties who took this war in terms of negotiating things politically.

One thing our people are famous for is forgetting the good things that happened very quickly. Within two weeks people will ask questions like “what happened?” and they are very short sighted.

People should not forget this day! International Forces will not stop here as they will find something to create some sort of trouble. We are celebrating this great victory and I really cant find words to describe how happy I am at this great achievement”.

MD/CEO of Chevron Lubricants Lanka Kishu Gomes:

“At this valuable moment my greatest appreciation is conveyed to President Rajapaksa and all Forces.

Now it is the time to start development activities in the North and build the confidence of the people who are living there.

With the military victory of our Forces against the LTTE, we can see the Sri Lankan Government is positive about the post-war scenario. Being in the private sector we also are looking at aggressive strategies for new investments in the North.

GM, Associated Motorways (AMW) PLC Virann De Soysa:

“The Government Forces have defeated the LTTE completely. This is a great occasion to be celebrated for all Sri Lankans mainly Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and our next duty is to build confidences of the people who were in the LTTE controlled areas.

The Government has already begun reconstruction activities in the East, which was cleared from LTTE earlier, and they should be started in the North as soon as possible”, he said.

While the economy has managed to do relatively well under difficult circumstances, the country needs now to meet the challenges of post-war development with the expected opening of the North. I think that now is a good time for our country to start a new journey,” he said.

Chairman KIK Engineering Lalith Kahatapitiya:

 “I expressed my gratitude to the President for achieving this turning point from war to freedom and inevitable future economic development from poverty. It will be an eye opener for the international community to correct their misconceptions about Sri Lanka”.

He hoped that there will be plenty of foreign investment coming in, as they build confidence.

The country will develop fast and we will continue to support the Presidents effort. This is a huge morale boost for my employees who have agreed to contribute a days salary, he said.

Chairman, Imperial Tea Exports Jayantha Karunaratne:

 “Investors will be confident to do business with Sri Lanka now and lot of financial problems will be solved with this victory”.

The stock market will also go up and our long standing foreign clients have expressed their support and willingness to expand business with us already and made inquiries. We continue to support the Government at highest level, he said.

Chairman, EPIC Lanka Group of Companies Nayana Dehigama:

“The business community in the IT field is keen to develop the IT and communication industry in the North and East by providing skill development to people. This industry still shows a growth rate despite the existing recession although the momentum has dropped.

He was confident that foreign investment will come through changing the negative attitude of international community to a positive one.

Holcim Lanka Chairman Manilal Fernando: “The business community is already geared to commence development in fullest support to the Government”.

Director/CEO Bartleet Group Indrajith Fernando:

“This is the day we have been waiting for. The private sector can do it and they will rally around to help the economy grow.

This is a good lesson for all the countries to learn, and we should always think positively when doing something”.

Chairperson, Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel Leisha De Silva Chandrasena:

“I wish to express our most profound gratitude to His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka for providing a courageous leadership in winning peace”.

Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa together with the Commanders of the three forces and IGP of Police must be thanked profusely for their commitment to liberate the country and the selfless services and sacrifices of our pride, the three Armed Forces, Police and Civil Defense Force must be saluted for realizing this most important peace dream that had seemed a near impossibility for three decades.

This is a historic victory for all of us Sri Lankans who have lived in a past of uncertainty but can now truly benefit from living as a family with of peace and prosperity which will be the greatest gift this for the generations to follow. Peace is a basic requisite for economic and social development and this victory of our nation we believe will lead to a new phase of national prosperity.

As the National Communication Service Provider, Sri Lanka Telecom together with its wholly owned subsidiary, Mobitel, had been preparing for this moment of our nation’s victory to take the lead in nation building to cover the entire country.

With the arrival of Peace we are now ready to, as part of our national duty, integrate and power the entire country with the latest and best Information and Communication Technology and lead Sri Lanka to an Info-Com and Knowledge Rich Society.

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