President Ranil Wickramasinghe said that the government’s aim is to create a highly competitive, export-oriented economy based on a market economy and he has full faith in the business community of this country.
He said that the current issue facing the country should not be whether to maintain the executive presidential system or not, but the method of building the country’s economy, and the people themselves should decide the future course of the country’s economy.
The President expressed his views while attending the 2023/24 Annual Conference of the District 3220 International Rotary Club for Sri Lanka and Maldives held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, Minister of Information Technology and Digital Services of Tamil Nadu, India, delivered the keynote address at this annual conference. President Ranil Wickramasinghe has also been a member of the District 3220 West Colombo International Rotary Club since 1994.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who further commented there, also said:
“We have come to a juncture where we have to decide the path Sri Lanka should take. The people of this country should decide that way. Shall we move on from here. Do we stop here. Or you have to decide whether to move backwards.
A young man I met today asked me what are your plans for the country. What plans have you taken for the educated people of this country. What plans do you have to develop the country’s physical infrastructure. that I said that there is no such plan. I can only think of a market economy, I told him.
Market forces will determine all these plans. We can decide what our policy framework is. But we need to know how to influence market forces. We need to know how to manipulate market forces or how to direct market forces.
So we must first decide which way we want to proceed. Every government presents a five-year plan after being elected. According to that plan, the government provides everything. We only had plans for so long. That is why we are still suffering from poverty.
After the war, Vietnam was in a poorer position than we were. In 1991, the Minister of Industry of Vietnam came and asked me how we promote foreign investment. Today, I have to go to Vietnam to learn from him how to promote foreign investment. They changed. We were in the same place.
We can no longer stand by without making the necessary decisions. There is no point in accusing each other. We have to decide what kind of economy we want. According to me, it can only be done through one model. It is a highly competitive, export-oriented economy.
We don’t have a big market in India, China, USA or Russia. We do not have the mineral resources that many countries have. We are a small island strategically located in the Indian Ocean. It is again gaining prominence as an economic center in the region. How can we move forward in such a world? Do we live in an imaginary world anymore? Or whether we are ready to take the necessary steps and move forward is a matter for all of you to think about.
Because the measures we have taken to stabilize the economy will end this year. We are in discussions with the Official Creditors Committee as well as the Paris Club. Most of the points to be reached with the bondholders have been agreed upon, but there is still one thing that needs to be agreed upon. It will also be resolved soon.”
On this occasion, the representative of the president of the International Rotary Club, Per Hoyen, the president of this year’s conference, D.G.N.D. Kumar Sundararaja, District 3220 International Rotary Club District Adviser Pradeep Amirthanayagam, Past Presidents K. Mr. R. Ravindran, representatives of International Rotary Club, District 3220 International Rotary Club officers, members and a group of distinguished guests were present.