Govt. trying to create sustainable growth framework to stabilize economy: Malik

From left: US Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Michael Delaney, Strategic Development and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama and US Ambassador Atul Keshap . Pic by Damith Wickramasinghe

A top Cabinet minister yesterday admitted that much more should be done by the unity government to satisfy the expectations of the people, who are becoming impatient in the face of unfulfilled election promises of the January 8 revolution.

Strategic Development and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama outlined that the coalition government is attempting to bring in numerous legislation promised to the people, despite constraints of coalition politics and the lack of capacity found in a developing country like Sri Lanka. “While all this is encouraging, I am of the view that we are somewhat falling behind meeting the expectations of the vast majority of our people in improving their material wellbeing,” he said during the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks held with the US government yesterday. 

He noted that people had not limited their expectations to the legislative reforms promised during the election campaign, and want sustained, inclusive economic development.
“In fact, they are becoming impatient for it. Our government is very conscious that we need development, which is inclusive and regionally balanced for it to be sustainable and touch the lives of all our people,” he said. Samarawickrama added that there is a need for quick wins that will have an immediate impact on the economy.

The government had attempted to engineer a quick win of public confidence with a public sector wage increase in the January 2015 interim budget, which had instead drained the budget deficit to 7.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from a projected 4.4 percent deficit, according to the Central Bank.

However, Samarawickrama said that the government is trying to create a sustainable growth framework to stabilize the economy and create the promised 1 million jobs within the next 5 years. “We are determined to break out of the cycle of stop-go policies, which have characterized our past,” he added.

He said that Sri Lankans will be empowered through up-skilling, upgrading small and medium sized enterprise competitiveness and increasing agricultural productivity.
“Needless to say there’s much needed to be done in ushering new opportunities as fast as we could. We are cognisant of the many reforms that need to be done to address the long overdue reforms, and for the unity government to provide the right platform to make these reforms a reality,” he said.

US Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Michael Delaney too showed support, saying that creating a right policy platform will create shared prosperity for all Sri Lankans. Samarawickrama said that as a trading nation, fostering trade relations and removing barriers to trade with the help of agreements like TIFA will help Sri Lanka win the quick victories it needs. (CW

TIFA will boost US-SL bilateral trade: Delaney

By Lahiru Pothmulla
Michael Delaney, US Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, said the TIFA would certainly increase bilateral trade and investments between the two countries and would also help increase employment opportunities and create wealth in Sri Lanka.e said the joint action plan would work towards achieving the goals of the long-term export development plans laid down by the two countries. Delaney said that the work plan was a rather extensive one, which involves greater interaction of both the US and Sri Lankan businesses.

“We envision doing this through business opportunities, conferences, which will bring together Sri Lankan and US businessmen in a wide variety of sectors with the purpose of familiarizing US business with opportunities in Sri Lanka,” he said.
“We have done this with other countries and they have turned out to be great success stories. Organizing this with the Sri Lankan government and the private sector here, we envision business opportunities taking place as early as in 2017,” he added.

Through the TIFA, measures would also be taken to improve several other areas such as vocational education and providing technical assistance, Delaney said.

“A programme will be launched to strengthen vocational education targeting the youth in Sri Lanka to address the issues of shortcomings or mismatches of the education system. Technical assistance will also be provided in the aspects of intellectual property and commercial laws,” he said.