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Minister of Special Assignments Dr. Sarath Amunugama addresses the Daily FT-Colombo University MBA Alumni organised forum “Reforms: The Way Forward” yesterday. Keynote speaker LIRNEasia Chair Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, Colombo University MBAA President Lalith Sumanasiri, Daily FT Editor Nisthar Cassim and Reforms Forum Organising Committee co-chair Sarma Mahalingam are also present - Pic by Daminda Harsha Perera
To fine tune the next round of reforms Sri Lanka has to find its comparative advantage to narrow down its competitive edge in a tough global environment said Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama yesterday.
“Failure to do so will be Sri Lanka’s misfortune,” cautioned Dr. Amunugama in his address as the Chief Guest at the Daily FT- Colombo MBA Alumini Association organised full day forum titled “Reforms: The Way forward for Sri Lanka.”
Via one hour sessions and involving around 30 public and private sector leaders including Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and Labour Minister John Seneviratne, the Forum dealt with broader reform sectors such as Agriculture, Trade, Services and Industry - Ease of Doing Business, Financial Services, Labour and HR; and Public Sector/Public Enterprise.
DFCC Bank was the strategic partner for the Forum.
The veteran Minister Dr. Amunugama insisted that Sri Lanka also needed to develop its ports and airports as a way to connect itself to the rest of the world and make use of development taking place in neighbouring countries.
“Nearly all economies are facing challenging times. During the last decade Asia led global growth, largely due to growth in China and India as well as a few other countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and even Sri Lanka. One main factor of this growth is the fact that these countries could identify their comparative advantage,” he told the gathering of professionals.
Combining comparative advantage with a sound policy environment were the indispensible ingredients to a fast developing economy and these traits have been used by several other countries to leapfrog ahead, he added.
“A handful of countries in Asia, particularly East Asia understood how to maximise this advantage and use it to attract investment from around the world. China was perhaps the first country to identify their comparative advantage and connect it to a stable policy framework that resulted in massive and sustained growth.”
Having become the factory of the world China is now facing a different set of challenges to transition into sustainable growth patterns. The change has now pushed India to the forefront as the fastest growing economy in the world but thrown new problems to producing countries that depended on high commodity prices.
“We have come to the realisation that in this competitive environment it is impossible to compete on our primary exports such as rubber, tea and coconut because commodity prices have fallen. On the other hand we have industries such as tourism and IT but of all these the most obvious comparative advantage that Sri Lanka has is our geographical advantage.”
The Sri Lankan Government therefore would work to increase its advantage based on geographical location and strive to focus the economy along productive lines.
“No other country is in the middle of the Middle East and Far East. More than one third of global shipping goes by Sri Lanka. Our position is so strategic that all other major countries have a special interest in the Indian Ocean. Right next door we have the fastest growing economy in the world. To the south there is no landmass till the South Pole. We are comparatively good candidates for economic growth based on our geostrategic advantage. Our policies should make the best use of this undoubted advantage we have,” he insisted.
