President Mahinda Rajapaska today said that whenever global tensions escalate due to political and economic disagreements or disputes, among the wealthy and advanced nations, those who suffer most are the developing and emerging nations.
“The obvious conclusion is that for genuine and credible partnerships to be established for wealth creation, the more advanced nations need to be sensitive to the issues of the lesser developed nations, and must be honestly supportive of promoting trade with emerging nations,” he said, at the Inauguration of the Commonwealth Business Forum 2013, themed ‘Partnering for Wealth Creation and Social Development’.
“Interestingly, the only instances where emerging economies have been able to break free from poverty, have been when those countries themselves have done so on their own steam, through the implementation of sustainable and pragmatic economic policies, fit for such countries,” the President said.
“In that regard, Sri Lanka could be cited as a classic example of a country that has relied upon a sustainable model of wealth creation, through the collective efforts of its many and varied stakeholders, together with a sustained approach towards social and human development,” he said.
Rajapaksa stated that any analyst, who cares to make a case study of Sri Lankan development, would be able to see clear signs of this “pragmatic approach”, which has led to the “positive results” in our country.
He added that today’s Business Forum, is an event of great significance and importance to Sri Lanka in several ways.
“First, we are meeting at a time when my country and people are experiencing a historic and unprecedented economic revival, in an environment of peace and tranquility, after suffering from the menace of terrorism for many decades.”
“Second, we are able to share with you, our home-grown development strategy, based on the Mahinda Chintana, which strives for high economic growth, with equitable distribution of its benefits, amongst all our people.”
“Third, we are able to display the newly emerging Sri Lanka “brand”, where our people are focused on the creation of new wealth in our country, through a robust Hub strategy, where the Maritime, Aviation, Knowledge, Commercial and Energy sectors, together with Tourism, are designed to propel Sri Lanka towards a “middle-income nation” by 2016,” President Rajapaksa said
He stated that in that background, the theme of today’s Forum ideally fits Sri Lanka’s own philosophy, while also articulating a vital need in today’s global economy.
