President envisions a robust new economy amidst COVID-19

Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has emphasised the need of the public and private sectors to recommence business activities.

He was addressing a meeting with the Secretaries to Ministries yesterday (April 15) at the Presidential Secretariat, where they discussed rebuilding the economy in the face of the current challenges, the President's media unit revealed. 

The curfew needs to be eased to allow this activity to proceed without undue obstruction. The responsibility of ensuring the public adhering to safety regulations and preventing large gatherings was entrusted on the Secretaries to the MInistries as well as heads of institutes.
Rebuilding a policy-driven economy is the responsibility of all, noted the President. Whilst protecting people and the local economy, the responsibility of creating a new economic trend lies with the ministries. 
It was noted that it is important to establish new businesses and industries. Experienced entrepreneurs must have fresh opportunities. The relevant ministries must at the same time extend the required foundation and support needed for agrarian and fisheries sectors as well as other businesses to recover.  
Taking the global crisis into consideration, the need to pay special attention to the local agrarian economy was underlined. Facilities needed to maximize production of export agricultural crops from available land must also be provided, the President instructed the officials. 

Thus it is very important that even the farmer at village level has easy access to the state machinery. 
The discussions also centered on restarting the development projects that were halted due to the prevailing crisis. One of these projects was the programme to add 100,000 km to the existing road network. It was decided to prioritize this project as a starting point. (BS)