SL’s potential shouldn’t remain as ‘ just potential’
View(s):Each succeeding government brought new pressures on Sr Lanka’s systems of governance and more and more, Lankan society is called upon to rely on the goodness of its leadership rather than on the strengths of its institutions, a top chamber official said.
Suresh Shah, the new Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) in his acceptance speech said,”We know from experience that successful societies are underpinned by strong institutions. Sri Lanka must not aim to be an exception.”
Addressing the 174th annual general meeting of the CCC on Thursday, he said that the country’s potential had remained just that -
Picture by Mangala Weerasekera shows the outgoing chamber chairman Susantha Ratnayake congratulating the new chairman, Suresh Shah.
Potential. “For 26 years we had a reason, some may even say an excuse. Call it what you may, four years ago it was put to rest. We, however, remain distant from the country that we should be,” he said, noting that the main challenges that confront us are economy, national integration, governance and education.
Excerpts of his speech:
“We are a small nation both in terms of population and size of economy to achieve sustainable growth by doing business amongst ourselves. We are also an import dependent country. Both of these suggest that prosperity will come to us only if we become an export centric nation. Sri Lanka is home to four of the world’s great religions. Yet Sri Lanka is not at peace with herself. Our society is marked by tensions driven by a fear of the ‘other’, of those we perceive to be different from our own selves. To truly move forward as a nation, we must celebrate our diversity, not fear it.
Education in the sciences is important because we need to compete and succeed in overseas markets but also education that leads us towards becoming a mature society.
None of this means that the chamber will rush out tomorrow and attempt to resolve all that lies ahead of our country, be it potential or challenge. But where we have the skills and the capacity, we must – to use a cricketing term – bat in the top order. Where we do not, we must follow.”
The newly elected Vice Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is Samantha Ranatunga, CEO CIC Holdings and Rajendra Theagarajah as Deputy Vice Chairman.
Keynote speaker, HSBC Chief Economist for India and ASEAN Leif Lybecker Eskesen pointed out pointed out that the growth of the Indian economy is likely to recover slowly, but the reform push has to be sustained and stepped up to reach the 8 per cent plus growth. Speaking of Sri Lanka he stated that it will be among the fastest growing environment in the region. However, the pickup in growth is expected to push inflation upwards. Sri Lanka is better positioned regionally due to a better educated labour force and strategic location.
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus