COYLE has brought in immense benefits to the economy - Prof Peiris

M F Jabir

The Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE), contributes no less than Rs 600 billion to the economy and provides employment for no fewer than 4,000 people with a team of 116 members who lead 750 of the largest companies in this country, said Prof G L Peiris, Minister of External Affairs at the 14th Anniversary Celebrations of COYLE which was held in Colombo on Sunday.

Prof G L Peiris

Prof Peiris said he was particularly struck by COYLE's choice of deco and motive that evening. The choice of the blue Lotus, the nil Manel, he said was symbolic of the values, the aspirations of COYLE and the ethos of the culture in accordance with which they had formulated and implemented over the last 14 years, a programme which had brought in immense benefits to the economy and country.

"If you ask me what is the single characteristic of COYLE which I most admire and which impelled me as stated a few moments ago to attend with unbroken regularity, each of your annual general meetings, this particular attribute which I unreservedly admire is the creativity, the resilience that you have demonstrated in conceiving of an economic programme that is entirely in keeping with the traditions of our country that is evident in everything that you have done, not only with regard to your work, but in organizing this ceremony itself. If you look at the empirical experiences of Asian economies which have succeeded, we would find that a recurring feature is that those who molded these economic policies, were not content to simply import uncritically into their countries policies which seem to have worked elsewhere. They have unequivocally recognized that context and nuances of a local situation are of overriding importance," Prof Peiris said.

He said COYLE had always taken care to ensure that policies which have been successful elsewhere, were modified and were molded to suit the combination of circumstances in ones own country. COYLE has succeeded more than anything else, because to a remarkable extent, they had succeeded in keeping at the forefront of their policy and the very core of the programmes that had put forward a spirit of fidelity to the cultural traditions which have nurtured this island for a very long time. And that was the outstanding conspicuous characteristic of COYLE. He said the other explanation of COYLE's remarkable success was the generational perspective, as COYLE was essentially an organization of young entrepreneurs. It was exceedingly refreshing to listen to the insights and perceptions of COYLE. There was something new and innovative about it that emanated from the generational perspective.

Prof Peiris added that Wasantha Silva, the elected Chairman of COYLE, was capable of taking the organization to greater heights under his leadership and appreciated the remarks made by Silva with regard to the Commonwealth Business Council, which is proposed to be held on the sidelines of CHOGM in November this year.