‘Ruler is only a temporary trustee’
 

I am pleased to address this meeting of the Asia Society. Many of my predecessors have also addressed you. Yours is a very special institution. This city which seems an image of globalization has drawn millions of people to it through the centuries. This is the birth place of billions worth of capital and trillions of ideas.

The Asia Society which is situated in such a background is a place which nurtures the Asian vision, so essential for the modern world. Therefore, I am pleased to be able to use the opportunity to address the United Nations, to also participate, even in a small way, in this forum of yours. Madam President, while thanking you for your invitation I commend you for your leadership.

Development and people offer great challenges to us. For an environment where globalization threatens development and sovereignty, achieving peace has become a difficult goal. In addition, this equation is not without factors that make it even more complex. The democratically elected governments of independent states are today faced with challenges from non-formal, reactionary, illegal, armed groups. These groups have no right to represent any section of people. Governments elected through the ballot find this task more difficult as many have to respect human rights and freedom as well as uphold the law and safeguard peace.

Another problem is the necessity for the governments to be responsible to the people who elected them. What we face in Sri Lanka is a closely knit combination of these complexities. The problems should be solved with transparency, both nationally and internationally. We should do this while safeguarding national security and also protecting the hallowed individual freedom of the citizen. It is my intention to first share with you some facts with regard to facing the dual challenges of development and peace within a democratic framework, and next to express a few of my own views on these issues.

I do not wish to either enter into a debate on whether the dawn of peace should precede the challenge of development; whether peace should prevail for development; or else, whether development would help in the achieving of peace. Similar to the familiar debate about the chicken and the egg, the dilemma as to what should come first in this context is irrelevant.

It is my firm belief that there exists a symbolic link between peace and development that assist each other. Irrespective of a person’s caste, tribe or religion he or she should be able to contribute to the development process. They should have every opportunity to obtain the dividends of peace and reap its benefits. My aspiration is to implement a development process at the rural level in the areas where Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims live, based on an accelerated development strategy and a strong peace policy.

Using the opportunity I received in the November 2005 Presidential election what I placed before the people was how we could achieve peace and development in keeping with my vision. That comprised my election manifesto known as “Mahinda Chintana”. It contained my vision, together with my plans and strategies to achieve an honourable peace and economic development.

My election manifesto is a careful compilation of well thought out ideas for a long term program of action. This was produced following extensive dialogue with all stake holders in the economy. As the preamble to my manifesto I stated the following with all humility: “This earth and its vegetation is yours. But they should be protected not only for your benefit but also for the benefit of future generations. A ruler is only a temporary trustee and not an owner of your children’s heritage” To realize this mission I received a very favorable response and endorsement from the people.

Therefore, utilizing this invaluable opportunity I shall build a healthy society that serves the needs of all including children, women and adults. Such a society will promote the qualities and values relevant to our country. This should be done upholding human rights and good governance.

I have already launched a community based rural development effort for the empowerment of the poor. Through this we have identified the needs of different sections of the community and carried out suitable responses with the aim of empowering these communities. Action is being taken to make the district and provincial administrations more efficient in order to decentralize the decision making process. Priority has been given to the development of infra structure facilities.

The key sectors of electricity, highways, irrigation, water supply, ports and airports, transport facilities, cities and investment zones have been prioritized for this development. While this will bring about a process of economic development throughout the country, this will also bring about new opportunities to generate employment and investment.

Through this we expect to build a healthy economic and social relationship between the private sector and public services. Such relationships could function when a competitive economic policy framework that is both market friendly and export oriented. My Government is committed to the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, which are very similar to the goals embodied in the Mahinda Chintana.

Implementing the Millennium Goals of primary education, gender equality, reduction of maternity and infantile morality rates are the victories that we have already achieved. Despite the problems faced by terrorism, Sri Lanka has succeeded in carrying forward the socio-economic development of the country.

In Health Services, in 1990 we had one doctor for every 10,000 persons but by 2005 we have increased this to five. In 1990 for every 1000 live child births there were 26 infantile deaths. It has decreased to 12 by 2005. Similarly 96% of our child births take place with the assistance of Health workers. Also in 1990 68% of the population got clean water and by 2005 it increased to 78%. In 1990 longevity at birth was 71 years; it has increased to 74 by 2005.

Among the developing countries Sri Lanka has the highest literacy rate, above 90%. During the last few years educational facilities, especially in secondary, tertiary and IT education, improved considerably. The total number of Universities stands at 15. Through the special “Nenasala” project we have taken IT education to remote areas, with limited facilities. Annually, more than 50,000 students are admitted for government vocational and training courses.

Eliminating anomalies at regional level, more facilities have been provided to investors in areas away from Colombo through improvement of rural infrastructure facilities and monetary incentives. The government has made efforts to maintain a balanced regional development process by taking steps to initiate 300 industries in provinces outside the Western Province and by implementing two rural infrastructure development projects.

These are the rural road development programme called the “Maga Neguma” and the coordinated rural development programme called the “Gama Neguma”. The Sri Lankan economy indicates a good state of growth. The 6% growth in 2005 was increased to 8.1% in the 1 st quarter of 2006. On the whole, year 2006 is passing all targets to reach 7% growth. Through balanced share market activity and high business credibility, scope for development of our economy is clearly indicated. It has been observed that during the first seven months of 2006 the share market has been active and grown, and in the private sector, profits of large firms remained high.

I wish to mention a few facts about the biggest challenge facing us, which is the realization of peace. I wish to place facts before you honestly when speaking about this complex and yet very important subject. Every government in Sri Lanka has made many efforts to achieve peace with the most heavily armed terrorist group, the LTTE. However, all these attempts failed perhaps due to many reasons.

The LTTE has on every occasion withdrawn from the negotiation table under some pretext. However, I should mention one fact here. All elected governments having recognized the grievances of every community living in Sri Lanka have made efforts to find suitable solutions to them. In making those efforts one thing we have to keep in mind is our strong commitment to protect democracy and human rights, honour the rule of law and maintain a pluralist political system. At the same time we have to safeguard the territorial integrity, sovereignty and the unitary status of the country.