Sri Lanka is collaborating with other countries to make island economic hub of Indian Ocean: PM

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says Sri Lanka is collaborating with other countries to make the island the economic hub of the Indian Ocean.

Marking 40 years of his political life in Parliament, the Premier, in a Facebook post, said the Government had taken steps to forge close links with India and strengthen ties with China and Japan for the betterment of the island.

He said the people wanted an economic and political revolution and the two major parties felt the need to form a National Government to effect the changes people wanted.

“We all felt that we needed to have a National Government to make these changes. It will be very difficult for us but let’s go ahead and slowly we are getting ahead of the issues,” he said.

Speaking of the challenges the Unity Government of the UNP and SLFP had to overcome, the Premier revealed the Government was now dealing with the hidden problems it inherited from the previous administration such as debt, national disunity and international restrictions due to the unfulfilled human rights commitments of the Rajapaksa Government.

“What we’ve done is we stayed together and laid the foundation. We cleared the rubble and laid the political and the economic foundation. At least we are getting to grips with the issue of debt,” he said.

The Premier added that the human right violations that took place during the regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa had been addressed while the country was now accepted by the international community.

“Within Asia, we are closely working with India, China and Japan to become the hub of the Indian Ocean.”

The next step is to get foreign investments to create jobs, increase incomes and make domestic entrepreneurs more competitive, the Premier emphasised.

Investment opportunities have to be increased aiming to provide more employment opportunities for the youth of the country. Meanwhile, local investors have to face competition with invited foreign investors in a competitive environment, he stated.

“The Government is able to relieve the country from the debt trap and the international community has extended a helping hand. We should be able to make Sri Lanka the best country in the region,” the Premier asserted.