Sri Lanka should become a model by itself - President

"I always say Sri Lanka is for Sri Lankans. It is not a Singapore model, although I am impressed by its growth," President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

"Some people want to make this into a Singapore or New York or Dubai but I always said Sri Lanka should become a model for by itself," he said in an interview with the Strait Times.

"The model is to be a hub for education, for aviation. Shipping, communications and tourism," he stated.

Commenting on the contribution of expatriate Sri Lankans to the rebuilding process, the President said many Tamils want to come back and that a lot of the educated people who went abroad, have come here.

"Right-thinking people know they can come and do business here. In Colombo, business is largely controlled by Tamils. We had 90 percent Sinhalese some 30 years ago, but now the Sinhalese are 27 percent," the President said commenting on the co-existence of ethnicities in Colombo.

"Without peace, there is no development. And without development, there is no peace," the President said.