COYLE business leaders meet Opposition Leader

From left: COYLE Vice Chairman Dinuk Hettiarachchi, COYLE Chairman Kasun Rajapaksa, Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan and COYLE Senior Vice Chairman Kushan Kodituwakku

The Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE) met with the Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan recently at the Hilton Hotel Colombo. It was the first time that the Opposition Leader had addressed the Chamber and the meeting was held with a view to discuss various issues pertaining  to restoring investor confidence and stabilising the economy  in the process of pushing through  a broad agenda of economic and regulatory reforms. 

Chairman of COYLE Kasun Rajapaksa while thanking Sampanthan for his participation, also mentioned the benefits the members would receive from his wealth of experience in politics.

Sampanthan in his speech, congratulated COYLE for bringing together a body comprising of leading business leaders and young entrepreneurs having a vested interest in developing the business sectors and the economy of the country. He stressed on the importance of developing the agricultural, fishing and livestock sectors in its progress march towards making Sri Lanka a hub of the region. Taking Singapore as an example, he stated that the country’s leadership is taking steps to improve its international diplomatic relations to further the country’s interests. He re-iterated that ETCA must be protected and that Sri Lankan entrepreneurs should take advantage of the business opportunities opening up with India, and that with careful planning we could exploit the Indian market with the growing of grains etc. for export to this vast market.   

In response, the COYLE Chairman emphasised the need for a national trade policy and that COYLE has put forward its concerns to the Government on this vital issue on several occasions, with special emphasis on the ETCA being pushed through. It was also brought to the Opposition Leader’s notice that the Free Trade Agreement was already in place since 2000 and that it had not benefited Sri Lanka thus far, but been more beneficial to India due to the tariff barriers imposed by them. The Opposition Leader assured the membership that the local business community and entrepreneurs would be protected against any exploitation by India in this regard. 

Other issues raised by COYLE members included; Development of business opportunities in the North, to which the Opposition Leader replied that several dormant factories etc. could be revived and due to the  many unemployed youth in the North, it would be conducive to making them profitable ventures. 

To the question of why political interference is affecting proper governance, he replied that it is common to every political leadership and that the present coalition Government could solve these issues effectively. Another concern raised was why there isn’t any objection raised by the Opposition Leader with regard to poaching carried out by Indian fishermen. His response was that it was definitely unfair to local fishermen and that the matter was being taken up with the Indian Government. 

A query was also made if COYLE could liase with a Business Chamber in the North to which Opposition Leader Sampanthan replied in the positive and that his office would assist COYLE in any way to reach the Northern business and investment sectors. Asked as to why the diaspora isn’t coming back to the country, he replied that they are waiting for the implementation of the new constitution to be introduced shortly. 

Vice Chairman Dinuk Hettiarachchi, in his vote of thanks re-affirmed COYLE’s assistance in further developing the rural agricultural and allied sectors since they already had vested interests in the rural sectors of the country.