Colombo/New Delhi: Ahead of Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India on July 21, 2023, an interaction with the Foreign
Minister of Sri Lanka M.U.M Ali Sabry in Colombo with IWPC delegation traveling to Sri Lanka, gave an insight of the government’s point of view on a host of
issues. Excerpts:
Q 1. Sri Lanka has been through tough
times lately. The economic meltdown almost reduced the nation to bankruptcy.
What measures have you taken for such a situation not to rise again!
FM… We are keen
not to repeat the mistake we did in the past on economic front and are learning
lessons from other countries including India. One area is how to improve
revenue in terms of taxation to be able to run the place. We are seeing how to
reduce expenses by putting money in performance based places. Second is to
decouple business from government. Government can just be a regulator & a
platform provider for regular trading without abuse. Third, reform of State
owned Enterprises. Old ones have been making big losses. We need to privatize
some of them & others to come in with private equity. This is for
transparency, accountability & professionalism. Eg Sri Lankan airlines had
earlier been in partnership with Emirates airline with a 10 yr MoU from 1998-2008.
During that period we made profits but unfortunately it wasn’t renewed as a
result of which the accumulated losses are now more than $1.5 US dollars. We don’t
want to repeat that.
We will not
give subsidies on popular policies. They will only be to the vulnerable people.
We have a Social Protection Net and World Bank is supporting us. We are working
on a platform for digitization & direct money transfer like the Indian
government has done.
For the
first time we have introduced Cost Reflecting Pricing for electricity, water,
fuel, gas, & food so that the state does not make losses which in turn
forces Central Banks to print more money that in turn adds to inflation as the
value of money comes down. So we have adopted a 3 pronged strategy to get out
of the crisis. Stabilization, Recovery & Growth.
Q 2. What are the footprints of China
in terms of CPEC, debt restructuring, infra projects and India’s security
concerns.
FM…China has
99 yrs lease on Hambantota port, a commercial agreement. For anything other than commercial they need
to get our permission. China has funded most of our Highways, we had to pay
them back. They have invested in one terminal.
Japanese & India too have invested in other places.
In fact since
last 20 yrs investment has come only from China, about a trillion dollar. After
we came out of war in 2009, we wanted investment to come from somewhere, it was
basically the Chinese who took the lead but it is purely a commercial
relationship, not military or defense. We are clear on it. We don’t want any
tension in our area neither will we contribute to it. We also take precaution
that under the pretext of commercial investment, military encroachment into SL
is not allowed by anyone. But for
security cooperation in order to prevent
smuggling, drug trafficking, piracy we will be first to cooperate but
not to get into alliance & tied down to somebody’s agenda.
Q 3. What are your asks from the Government
of India if anything more and how do you think neighboring countries can help Sri
Lanka.
FM… We are thankful
to India and do not want to ask for any giveaways or loans but we want their support for the restructuring
of the loans & its payment in a manner possible which will not derail SLs
recovery so that we can recover & pay them. India has been very flexible in
repayment also. I had asked Dr Jaishankar when he came, to look at SL as an
investment destination, more P2P contact & more tourism.
FDI is very
imp as we need capital to start new projects which will bring growth. Then P2P
contact has to be strengthened, connectivity through air, sea, ferry, cruise, we
are looking at expanding every area of that.
We are
looking at privatizing Sri Lankan airlines. So it’s a huge opportunity for Indian
investors. Like TATA’s have done with Air India. 17 cities of SL are covered by
Sri Lanka airlines. Some big Indian companies have come in particularly on
Colombo port. Big project are going to come on wind power.
India to
South East Asia to Japan, China in their own way did a lot together. But I have
to put this on record that the biggest contribution came from India.
Q 5. Your views on Global South that
PM Modi is talking about.
FM...
Global North has been dominating
the world unilaterally for a long time. We
are now going towards a multi polar world with many players. In the foreseeable
future there will be 4-5 big player & India is one of them. That will
create balance between the global south & north.
The whole world
is in consensus that 70% growth in the next 2-5 decades will come from Asia
Pacific lead by China & India. A balance between Global North & South can
only be brought by India China working together.
We see India
rising & India rising means the neighbors will rise. In the next 20-30 yrs
I think economic growth will come from our region led by India.
Q 6. How do you plan to boost connectivity
& people to people ties.
FM...SL is welcoming tourists. Indian airlines
which were flying just thrice a week, will fly everyday to Jaffna from July 7,
2023. Some Indian flights will also fly to Colombo.
Ferry
service will soon begin. A superluxury cruise (Candola) came to Hambantota,
went to Trinco & to Jaffna. I feel P2P contact through connectivity &
cruise will make a big difference particularly with the southern part of India.
We invite people from India particularly South to come & invest in the
north & East & uplift the standard of our brothers which has suffered
due to 20-30 yrs of conflict. It has been 200 yrs of the existence of Indian
community who work in the Tea sector driving SL’s economy majorly.
Q
Your comments on debt trap diplomacy.
FM… I don’t
agree with that. That’s a western narrative to scuttle China’s investment. For
us Chinese investment has been helpful.
Q. Will elections be held next year?
FM…Next year
before November we have to have elections even as per the constitution.
Tags: #MUM Ali Sabry #SriLanka, #IndiaSriLankarelations #Tourism #Travel&Tourism, #Indiatourism #srilankatourism
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Pragmatic capture of Indian participation