30 March 2023 12:17 pm
The ethnic issue could not be divorced from the main economic issue and it must be resolved if the country were to progress, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said.
Delivering the keynote address at the conference titled ‘Economic Dialogue- IMF & Beyond’, the President said Sri Lanka’s potential for a green economy was good and Sri Lanka must get into it immediately and initiate it.
President Wickremesinghe said that money was needed for education, health and social safety of the poor and vulnerable and not to support the CPC, Sri Lankan Airlines or the CEB, where already, too much of the country's resources have been wasted on them.
The President highlighted missed opportunities in Sri Lanka's development, including not building on D.S. Senanayake's proposals and not implementing the Shenoi Report in 1965.
“The ethnic issue in 1978 slowed progress, and the country missed an opportunity to regain its footing. This is the last chance for Sri Lanka to make a decisive choice and move forward, or risk falling back again,” he said.