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| Sri Lanka offers help to Pakistan in terror fight |
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Monday, November 23, 2009
By Salman Siddiqui
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake has offered help, assistance and expertise to Pakistan for eliminating terrorism.
He was speaking here at the inaugural session of the Third Saarc Business Leaders Conclave under the theme “Regional Cooperation: A Catalyst for Socioeconomic Growth in South Asia” on Sunday. The two-day meeting is being organised by Saarc Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Saarc CCI) in collaboration with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry Sri Lanka (FCCISL).
When asked to suggest a strategy or the way out to get rid of terrorism in Pakistan in the light of its own experience of ending the two-decade-long civil war in Sri Lanka, Wickramanayake abruptly said this was Pakistan’s internal matter and he would recommend nothing to its friend Pakistan in this particular regard. He, however, offered his country’s full support to Pakistan in dismantling the terrorists’ network.
“Whenever Pakistan and any other country would ask us to play our role in ending terrorism, we will be there to help them with expertise,” replied the Sri Lankan prime minister. He urged upon the business leaders of Saarc countries to play their due role in strengthening the roots of regionalism in South Asia, in particular fields of trade, business and investment. “This is the time to realise the business potential available there in the region and to help this region get out of great social, financial and monetary problems like inflation, hunger, poverty, food crisis, fuel crisis and unemployment,” he underlined.
People in the private sector, commerce and industry chambers of the region must work in close coordination to address issues related to socio-economic problems, he further said. Saarc CCI president Tariq Sayeed stressed upon the need for coordinated efforts among the South Asian countries to address problems in social and economic structure. He said the economic integration must be strengthened in this region so that countries could mutually address social issues like the growing poverty.
When asked to highlight major factors hindering the economic integration in the region, he pointed out that absence of developed infrastructure like railways network among the regional countries and Non-Tariff Barriers were the two basic issues hindering trade and development among the regional countries.
He said poverty and foreign debt were common economic problems, which could be only dealt through attracting foreign direct investment. Regional Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), South Asia, Dr Rene Klaff, observed that all countries in the region had the democratic form of government, which was a must for political and economic freedoms.
Now leaders should develop regulatory framework for nurturing business activities in the region, but formation of rules should not be meant for creating suffocation and freezing activities under the concept of the Free Market Economy, he added. Senior Adviser to the World Bank Fayez Omer strongly advocated the integration of economies in the region at this crucial time in history when the world was facing great recession.
He observed there were two South Asian regions; one is rich and prosperous and the other was poor. This divide of have and have-nots within the region should be removed or narrowed down at the outset. The business leaders should work for this cause, he said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
