Friday Apr 19, 2024
Friday Apr 19, 2024
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Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Sri Lanka(CILT) in partnershipwithPIM Alumni Association (PIMA) of the Postgraduate Institute of Management, recently concludeda successfulevent on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its impact to Sri Lanka at the PIM Auditorium, with a large gathering of professionaland academicenthusiasts.
The participants were truly interested in this topical discussion, which is highly relevant to Sri Lanka at this juncture being at the centre of the Belt part which, is the sea route of the Belt and Road Initiative. PIMA President Dinesh Hamangoda in his welcome address thanked PIMA and CILT for coming together to organise an event of this nature for the benefit of both PIM alumni and CILT membership. CILT SL Chairperson Gayani de Alwis, CMILT who is a PIM Alumni also, mentioned in her speech that it is important to create a discourse on issues of public interest and thanked PIMA for partnering with CILT and assured that both parties will continue this event in their annual calendar.
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PIMA President welcoming the gathering |
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CILT Chairperson addressing the gathering |
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Keynote Speaker Dr. Janaka Rathnasiri |
The keynote speech was given byIPS Research fellowDr. Janaka Wijesiri. The distinguished panel were South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT)CEO and CILT International Vice President Romesh David, FCILT, DRH Logistics International Ltd. Chairman/Managing Director Diren Hallock, and Verite Research Director Subashini Abeysinghe. The panel discussion was moderated by Daily FT Editor Nisthar Cassim.
Dr.Wijesiri highlighted five major objectives of the present BRI initiative, and those were policy coordination, connectivity, unimpeded trade, financialintegration andpeople to people exchangeand Sri Lankan involvementsin the BRI. The Belt and Road Initiative is a major thrust of the Chinese government, which is linking their trade routesbetween the Asia and the West through the Indian Ocean.
Dr.Wijesiri explained about SriLanka’s integration with China for the present FTA and highlighted the major projects and investments undertakenby themin the country. Under the people to people exchange, he pointed out the frequent influx of Chinese travellers under the cultural and academicsectors.He further reiterated the objective of this BRI and how Sri Lanka’s geographical location can be utilised under the maritime route, andshowedthatthe major BRI connected projects in the country such as the Colombo International Port CityProject,theHambantota Port Development and the adjoining industrialestateas well as the Colombo Portexpansion, etc. are of vital importance to the country.
He also mentioned the following benefits thatSri Lanka could derivethrough BRI:
He stated that concerns of risks involved will be to balance and strengthen the relationship and the rivalry between India and China. The concern over Sri Lanka’s autonomy and the independence and the possible lower investment return were also highlighted. Another area was the public perception and opposition connected with possible sustainable growth.
Romesh David in his speech highlighted the whole scenarioofBRIin a positive sense. He stated that he could see that BRIis focused in the Central Asian Region; for example, Kazakhstan is having a major impact in the Central Asian Region. Hestated that Sri Lanka will have a tremendous impact and opportunity with greater diversity to become a majortrading hub as part of BRI.
Further highlightingthe Central Asianregion developments through BRI, having Pakistanthrough the corridor has given tremendous opportunity to China. He stated that China and India are great marketsand we got the opportunity to reach both markets and Sri Lanka could play a pivotal role and could supply products to each other and will create connectivity. He also mentioned that the Hambantota port was not part of BRI originally since the BRI initiativewas initiated in2013and whereas the Hambantota Port initiation was in year 2007.
Diren Hallock during his presentation highlighted that, as he observed Chinatruly requires the Indian Ocean,since China is mainly concerned for their energy andsecurity. He pointed out that since China has been excluded by other partners, they wish to transport and carry bulk transports, energy requirements through the Indian Ocean. The biggest challenge that the Sri Lankans will face will be to balance India and China and to establish a moderate relationshipin the area ofmaritime security. One major factor will be to establish data communication line, which will go through Sri Lanka. He further stated that Sri Lanka has failed to handle matters in a diplomatic manner and cautioned Sri Lankato handle India well, to managegeo political tension.
Subashini Abeysinghe, during her presentation viewed the whole BRI initiative inabalanced and transparent manner. Her comments on the BRI issue was that these initiatives are not undertaken as amajor concept of the Chinese Government and are pre-based BRI. Most of the time asper herobservationthat many of these large scale investmentinitiatives do not come directly through main ChineseGovernment,but many large scale companies and provincial governments in China are involved.Several such projects could be present under the umbrella of BRI. She observedthat most of these investments are from different agencies in China.
Further she stated the difficulties encountered in understanding the BRI Initiative in full, as well as the laid down Chinese policies due to language barrier. Most of the written articles are in Chinese language and for a layman it is difficult to understand, since the use of English language isnot frequentin China.She also noted thecomments and concern in Sri Lanka about the debt burden which is discussed as a seriousissue for Sri Lanka. She stated that there are notable factorsfor this challenge we facecurrently and factors such as our poor public debt management, poorly selected projects,reckless burrowing, lack of transparency, etc.are causing this problem.In general western countries shows the debt trap diplomacy, but we in Sri Lanka have graduated to become non-concessional debt burrower. She said that it is due to our own faults and poor financial management, hence countries such as China could benefit from the currentsituationin SriLanka.
When asked about thedebt crisis, she further said that we owe much to international finance institutions and financialmarketsand it was evident that the Sri Lankan debt has increased from 11% to 54%. In that sense there is nothing that we can do with China regarding our own debt crisis. The Chinese debt also has now increased from 2% to 9%. The factor to note is that what we burrow from international markets are quite expensive. Sri Lanka burrows at 6% from international markets with a maturity period of seven years and we could burrow at 2% from China with a maturity period of 20 years. This factor will make burrowing from China more appealing for the Sri Lankan Government.
Another valid point under the BRI initiative will be that China is concerned about their energy security but they want close friendshipsand loyalty with countries in theregionand they wish tosee a Chinese dominantSouthAsian regionas their global ambition and certainly they do not wish to seethe region with Western or Japanese dominance. As such China is negotiating with countries such as Singapore. Another observation she made was that the Chinese institutions do not have hard and fast rules, and even through the BRIChina has not spelled any political aspirations as well. It was argued that the competition setup made by China may be hurtingother countries in the world.
During the discussion, while appreciating the Belt and Road Initiative by China and what it matters to our country, it was argued that Sri Lanka will have multiple benefits through the operation. Further the management of diplomatic relations of these two Asian giants, Chinaand India as our close friend and ally will be of much importancefor the expected growth and sustainable development in the BRI initiative.
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport is a leading global professional body associated with the logistics, transport and supply chain industry. CILT is celebrating its Centenary year this year. The Institute holds unparalleled international recognition and works towards achieving its objectives of promoting and encouraging the art and science of logistics and transport through its membership and its educational qualifications. CILT is celebrating ‘Centennial’, this year. With a global membership of over 35,000 in 35 countries across the globe, CILT provides a professional identity to those in the ever expanding logistics and transport sector. It is a strong, active and a unified professional body that is able to speak with authority on strategic issues related to transport and logistics.
Pix by Indraratna Balasuriya
