Renounce terrorism for the benefit of country

Wednesday, 13 September 2006

President urges LTTE

President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged the LTTE to renounce terrorism and enter into negotiations to promote peace and development for the benefit of all segments of citizens in the country. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was addressing the opening of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo yesterday.

President in his inaugural speech said: Sri Lanka as a nation has enjoyed independence for more than 50 years. Many have been the challenges that we have faced successfully. For example, the tsunami of December 2004 put our country through a massive test of resilience and commitment. We came out of it, stronger than we were before.

Our vision now is to re-engineer our economy to create economic opportunities for the people to move out of poverty. We do so through a policy framework that aims to build a new economy with social justice.

There is no one single answer to the problems of economic growth and development. At the same time, sound macro economic policies, sectoral reforms, institutional strengthening, infrastructure development, better access to information, and investment in research and development, are the essential pre-requisites of growth and sustainable livelihood.

The Annual Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting is a platform for pushing forward the development policies conceived by the Commonwealth. I thank all Heads of Government and Finance Ministers of the Commonwealth countries for selecting Sri Lanka for this year's meeting.

The theme of our meeting this year, - "An Agenda for Growth and Livelihood" - is of special significance for us all.

This meeting is preceded, as you know, by a meeting of senior officials on an equally important theme - "The Reform of the Aid Architecture".

Let us recall the Commonwealth Principles set out in the 1971 Summit in Singapore. They emphasised "the need to foster international peace and security, democracy, liberty of the individual and equal rights for all; the significance of eradicating poverty, ignorance and disease; and the need to oppose all forms of racial discrimination".

We are proud to be members of an organisation that upholds these principles and tries to promote democracy and good governance, human rights, the rule of law, gender equality, and sustainable economic and social development.

We, the commonwealth countries account for a large share of the world's output and trade. As such, the group of commonwealth countries plays a significant role in shaping the process of economic and social development in the world. The Secretary General of the Commonwealth and his staff in the Commonwealth Secretariat, have worked hard to contribute effectively to this process.

Our Commonwealth is a community of 53 sovereign, independent states which range from the wealthy industrialised countries to some of the 'least developed' countries of the world.

We represent about 30 per cent of the world's population.

Our membership is rich in its diversity.

It is composed of many cultures, races and traditions. It also shares certain common features, such as the widespread use of English as a common language. Our countries have similar administrative and legal systems, and we share a common interest in certain sports activities. These all flow out of our sharing of a common historical experience. Our meetings in Colombo this year are held against a back-drop of several major risks and challenges which affect us all in common.

The first of these is the escalation of oil prices. This has resulted in severe adjustment burdens in oil importing countries such as Sri Lanka. Added to this is the uncertainty about the future of oil prices in general.

The second is the difficulty of economic planning in the environment of large economic imbalances among the major players in the world, and developments in the world financial markets especially in regard to interest rates and rates of exchange.

The third of these is the fact that the failure to stabilise the increasing interest rates will have an adverse impact on growth prospects, while adding to the cost of servicing commercial debts.

The fourth is the need to ensure adequate and reliable resource flows to developing countries to ensure sustainable economic growth and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We note that the delivery of aid has unfortunately been below expectation.

And the fifth is that in addition to these economic issues, the world is also faced with increased threats of terrorism. Apart from their adverse humanitarian, social and economic consequences, they undermine the prospects of a meaningful globalisation and regional economic cooperation.

In this regard, peace and security is of paramount importance, and as the world is united on the need to combating terrorism, I reiterate my call to LTTE to renounce terrorism and enter into negotiations to promote peace and development for the benefit of all segments of our citizens.

We need to guard ourselves against the adverse fall-out of these clusters of challenges and risks. And in order to do so, there is an urgent need to further consolidate the on-going efforts of the international community with effective policies and activities, within a framework of medium and long term strategies.

It is precisely against this background that the theme of this year's meeting, ' "Agenda for Growth and Livelihoods" assumes significance. And, as developing countries represent a large constituency of the Commonwealth, it is appropriate to comment on the theme of the meeting from the perspective of these countries.

Growth, sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction are closely linked, one to the other. Our development strategies, whether developed in consultation with external development partners of otherwise, must therefore give considerable weight to a pro-poor growth approach, covering all segments of the poor.

Agriculture is the backbone of many developing countries and the main source of income generation in the rural economy. Any agenda for development and growth should focus on the improvement of the agricultural sector, and aggressively pursue measures and methods to optimise its productivity. Poor farmers need help, as they have to encounter difficult challenges.

Farming is a dignified profession, and its dignity needs to be protected. In this regard let me quote from Robert Knox the 17th century British traveller. Referring to the Sri Lankan paddy farmer of his time, this is what he says in his book "Historical Relations of the Island of Ceylon". "Take a Plough-man from the Plough and wash off his mud and he is fit to rule a Kingdom". We say in our own Sinhala langauge - "Mada Soda Gath Kala, Goviya Rajakamatada Sahe".

Public investment is a vital factor for rural development. For, it is the lack of infrastructure facilities such as better roads, transport, irrigation, communication and electrification that have stood in the way of growth in the rural economy. Though the many issues affecting the development of remote areas have been identified and discussed, such areas have continued to remain poor.

In Sri Lanka's current development strategy, therefore, we have launched a programme of action to speed up the process of rural economic growth in our country.

Urbanisation is also a challenge faced by many countries. It has impacted on urban rural disparities, and resulted in problems relating to the living conditions of the urban poor. In the set of recommendations we will be making at the end of our deliberations, I will propose the establishment of a Commonwealth Fund to address the human settlement issues of the urban poor.

I re-iterate once more that the timely delivery of aid in support of home-grown policies and strategies is essential, for countries to make progress towards reaching the millennium development goals. We also need to promote a partnership between the public and private sectors where necessary and appropriate, as a driving factor for economic growth. An effective and positive role for civil society, also adds significant value to the development effort.

As I said before, we are living today in a world that is gripped by many serious challenges.

To respond to these, we need to take effective action at all levels. And in doing so, the presence of the Commonwealth and other regional organisations provide us with strength, as they can act as the catalysts of change and provide support to our efforts to promote sustainable economic development.

I wish the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' meeting and the Senior Officials' Meeting all success. And in a context in which we are also preparing for the Annual Meetings of the World Bank/IMF in Singapore, I know that the discussions in Colombo will also contribute to more constructive cooperation between North and South.