President tells policy planners:

Focus on innovation and growth

Rasika SOMARATHNE

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday asserted that Sri Lanka’s future economic strategies would be based on “home-grown” policies which would supplement the unique needs of the country. Addressing new recruits to the national planning service of the Finance and Planning Ministry at Temple Trees, the President emphasised that strategies should be developed by locals who have a thorough understanding of the ground realities with the intention of projecting what’s best for the country.

He noted that economic strategies should focus on nurturing innovation and growth with the intention of spreading the gains to all corners of the country in achieving equity in development. Categorizing certain rural villages with the tag of underdeveloped should not exist in the future, the President said.

He urged the newly-appointed to act with self-confidence and commitment to come up with their own vision of how to develop the country. The same old habit of working from an accepted blueprint should not be followed, he added.

President Rajapaksa said the time when economic strategists were planned in five star comforts in deciding the country’s future course of action was over. These would be done by people who truly care for the country and its future prosperity, he added.

The President also emphasized that it was the responsibility of State sector employees to come together to rebuild the nation and recover the momentum lost over the past three decades due to the menace of terrorism.

He said the State sector had gone from strength to strength under this Government.

“When we came to power there was a plan to cut down the State sector to just 600,000, but we did not heed the call, and as a result the total number of employees today has grown to over 1.1 million.”

Six hundred and fifty six new recruits from all corners of the country got new appointments to the service which is larger than the existing number which is 616. Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya was also present.