CP urges biz community to come forward on peace

A Communist Party stalwart has urged Sri Lanka’s business community to be more forceful in their representations on the peace process as they are a force to be reckoned with.

General Secretary, Sri Lanka Communist Party and Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Dew Gunasekera told the Business for Peace Forum of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka this week that reviving Sri Lanka’s war-torn economy and increasing foreign investment is critical to building and maintaining stability.

He suggested that businesses in Sri Lanka should emulate the private sector in South Africa which has enhanced post-conflict job growth and tourism through its involvement in the peace process.

Additionally, he praised the role of Business for Peace Forum, which works to generate a dialogue and common understanding between Sri Lankan business leaders based in the south and those based in the northeast. Gunasekera recommended that the private sector collaborate with public and government agencies to fast-track peace dividends

As a seemingly marked deviation from the socialist idealism, Gunasekera said the Free Market economy has come to stay and there’s no turning back. He said that with open economy and liberalization there is development, even with war.

The development is mainly confined to the Western Province, he said. He said that the defense budget today is a huge Rs 139 billion whereas it was a mere Rs 1 billion in 1983 while 27 percent of the national expenditure is paid against capital and interest on the enormous borrowings.

He said that the global economic constraints cannot be overlooked by Sri Lanka which are beyond the control of the government. In addition to international constraints there are domestic constraints and challenges, he added.