Address growth imbalance in rural and urban areas - PM

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

Sri Lanka is on the threshold of a new era - challenges and opportunities and full of promise. The Government is totally free to focus its attention on development and we need to capitalize on this situation, said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake at the inauguration of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2009 in Colombo.

The Government's right policies at the right time cushioned the adverse effects. The rate of unemployment was down to 3 percent for the first five months and it also reached its lowest in 2008. Sri Lanka maintained an economic growth of five percent due to the contribution by the private sector, he said.

The end of the war has expanded our horizon. Sri Lanka can be proud of its human development indicators. The country has achieved a high literacy rate, life expectancy and the poverty level had reduced. However, we need to address the growth imbalance in the rural and urban areas, the Prime Minister said.

"We are confident that we can win the economic war. We should embrace our diversity and unite as one nation to achieve our goals. Challenges are many.

A positive mindset is necessary. Notwithstanding the adverse global economy, Sri Lanka is poised to enter into a promising era", he said.

The country needs to attract foreign funds. Speedy development and re-integration of the North and the East will provide the opportunity to access untapped resources.

Asia is the engine of growth and our country could be a part of this. It is important to have a model to include people and sustain development to ensure they benefit by the freedom, he said.

Japan's special envoy Yasushi Akashi said that Sri Lanka is rich in resources and talented people. It suffered due to the war and a large number of women and men, young and old lost their lives. The Government is faced with the challenge of looking after 300,000 IDPs and need to mobilize resources to manage the situation, he said.

With the help of the UN and other agencies the Government works hard to provide facilities to these people. No other European country has confronted such a challenge and achieved tremendous success like Sri Lanka. It was very impressive the way it was handled. I was moved to see many gifts for these people from Sinhalese from the South, he said.

Sri Lanka is now faced with an opportunity to build a united pluralistic democratic country. An opportunity missed will never come back. The ultimate responsibility of war and peace rest on the leadership.

Now it is time to accelerate the process to integrate multi-religion and multi-ethnic trends as this country is one of the oldest democratic countries, he said.

Japan remains Sri Lanka's leading donor country. It will be a reliable partner to promote development and prosperity. A more open-minded sincere dialogue is necessary to avoid extremes of naive cosmopolitanism and nationalism. The country has immense potential for development. Its social indicators are top among Asia and has a high quality labour force. The most rewarding chapter is now opening and it is a quantum jump. Japan will actively participate in Sri Lanka's development process, he said.