Caving in
The Sri Lankan government spent rupees 19 million
to hire out stalls at the World Travel Mart (WTM) in London, but did nothing
to have itself represented at the recent WTO (World Trade Organisation)
proceedings in Doha. The WTM event this year was a flop according to all
reports; it didn't generate the enthusiasm which it usually does. Sri Lanka
is feeling the triple blows of the airport attack in July, the post September
11th syndrome resulting in many Westerners being afraid to fly, and finally
the uncertainty generated by the war in Afghanistan. But nevertheless,
there should be no respite when it comes to promoting the travel trade.
There should be no let-up in the marketing of Sri Lanka as a holiday-destination,
for the simple reason that a tidy sum of foreign exchange and jobs are
generated by the tourist industry. Moping about events is for losers; an
industry needs to make things happen.
There should be no grouse on that score, but Sri Lanka's missing out
on the WTO deliberations is an unpardonable lapse. While Sri Lanka's Foreign
Minister is going great guns arguing his brief against Terrorism in the
western world, and at the UN sessions, Sri Lanka's absence at a vital international
pow-wow such as the WTO, is an indictment on Government pre-occupied with
domestic politics. The Trade Minister opted to engage in electioneering
back home, and forgot about a vital world parley at which poorer countries
waged quite a successful battle against rich nations.
One of the most significant victories at these concluded sessions was
to win exemption for certain life-saving drugs manufactured by huge pharmaceutical
companies of the US and Switzerland, from the ambit of WTO Intellectual
Property regulations These are matters that effect the day-to-day lives
of ordinary people living in countries like Sri Lanka. But Sri Lanka played
no part in this battle, which is unfortunate considering that Sri Lanka
was earlier in the vanguard of many Third World struggles waged against
an un-equal and oppressive world order.
These days, we are reduced to enjoying the benefits of other people's
struggles; our own pastime seems to be to engage in endless electoral battles,
at which our own movers and shakers are all the while promising a better
life for the people, including, incidentally, a reduction of drug prices.
We are now witness to the spectacle of the US Ambassador in Colombo
lecturing our own CID and Customs on WTO principles, on Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS) and the need to crack-down on piracy in the recording industry.
One would have thought that a foreign envoy in any country would be
more circumspect about lecturing or advising local officials on how to
do their job.
The practice used to be that the usual diplomatic channels were engaged
when a foreign government felt compelled to send out a message. But those
niceties seem to have been thrown overboard in the emerging New World Order,
and the Sri Lanka Government. has shown its willingness to cave into this
new world-wide phenomenon. |
