The Government’s take

Monday, 10 September 2012 01:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, who attended the AGM as Chief Guest, assuring the Government’s support for the tea industry and for the exporters, stated that during the last visit President Rajapaksa made to Iran, the subject of sanctions were discussed and the countries have formulated a way to smoothly handle the issues.

“As you are aware, even Sri Lanka has sanctions and we cannot import the oil we need. Some 95% of the crude oil comes from Iran and our refinery is totally geared to handle Iranian oil imports so we have an issue,” he said. “As a long-standing industry, tea will certainly benefit from that thinking and receive the highest level of priority.”

“During the course of the discussions between the Presidents, they found a way how this could be smoothly handled. This is not to say we will violate sanctions or break norms; however as a country we need to find ways and means of survival and ensure that development goes on.”

He also acknowledged that the President would chair a number of meetings soon where the stakeholders would be able to share their thoughts on the Budget.

Weeratunga also commented that new thinking such as the use of IT could help the industry in the future. “Last Monday, ICT Agency launched 21 e-government services, out of which one is to find tea prices for producers. We will start small. However in our agenda of work we want to see trade facilitation. Having always been a fan of getting things done in a smooth and efficient manner without stakeholders having to go through rigorous and strict procedures, we will keep this going on.”

He was also of the view that associations like TEA could play a more dominant role in the work that the Government does. “Everyone talks about good governance; part of it is however for stakeholders to be allowed to suggest things to the Government. In that respect you need to talk to ground level producers, people who benefit out of the industry in the entire chain, and present it to the Government,” Weeratunga emphasised. “The Government will try to help wherever it can by way of incentives and simple trade procedures because it considers you as an important sector.”