US ambassador urges end to hostilities

The Unites States’ top diplomat here has urged Sri Lanka to emulate the local cricket team, comprising all faiths and ethnic and requested the government to break away from traditional practices and become more effective by operating more like a business and managing for results.

“Your cricket team reached the glory of the World Cup final on the strength of performances by men who represented all faiths and ethnic backgrounds. Let their team’s success be an example for us all,” Robert Blake, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka said, addressing the gathering at the annual Business Leader’s Summit at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) this week.

He pointed out that the biggest challenge for Sri Lanka is to resolve the longstanding conflict. “The opportunity cost of the war is estimated at two to three percent of annual GDP growth. That amounts to a lot when compounded over the 23 years of the conflict. It means that GDP per capita today could have been 50 percent greater than it currently is,” he noted, adding that it does not count the cost of the brainpower of the hundreds of thousands who have left the country or does not reflect the foreign direct investment foregone, and the money that Sri Lankans chose to invest abroad.

He said that the most important thing to enhance the climate for business is for the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to reach a durable peace settlement. “A sustainable peace would not only end the killings, abductions and other problems that have plagued Sri Lanka, it would also bring a virtuous cycle of new investment into the country and a return of Sri Lanka’s brightest minds from abroad. That is an outcome that would truly exemplify the spirit of ‘good to great’. It is also an outcome that is within reach and possible if everyone is committed to achieving it for the sake of your nation,” he reiterated.

He said that it is a priority for the country to reform the public sector to make it a catalyst for the country’s growth and prosperity, rather than the obstacle to progress that bureaucracies too often are.

He said that in the present knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, what will ultimately propel Sri Lanka’s economy forward is the knowledge and training of its people.