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| Sunday, 11 January 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Failed to meet President, pm: Business Leaders plan action by Hiran H. Senewiratne The Joint Business Forum (J-Biz) is yet unable to obtain meetings with the President and Prime Minister, which they have been seeking urgently in their bid to push two sides to resolve the current political stand off. Spokesman for the forum (J-Biz) said that a meeting will be sought over the weekend but was not yet granted. J-Biz, which groups the top leadership of all the country's business chambers and bodies, has been trying to push the presidency and government into consultative formal governance in order to return the country to a more stable political condition. J-Biz is due to meet representative of civil society bodies in Colombo on Monday as part of their effort. Last Thursday, representatives of J-Biz met under the leadership of Mahendra Amarasuriya to discuss and draft an action plan to force political leaders to resolve the current political crisis. The private sector being the engine of growth of the country have to exhibit an unprecedented role to take the leadership to enlighten political leaders to resolve the present turbulent situation said Mr Amarasuriya at the opening ceremony. At the meeting business leaders agreed to work together to make their presence felt to force political leaders to put the country before politics. One of the issues they emphasised at the meeting was to move forward the stalled peace process back on track in the interest of the country and the nation. At the meeting number of business leaders were expressed their views pertaining to an action plan some of them are- Singer (Sri Lanka) Chief and top business magnate Hemaka Amarasuriya asked the powers to put the country before politics. He said that the private sector should stop talking and be proactive to show the strength without causing inconvenience to the public. Veteran trade chamber leader Patrick Amarasinghe said that the private sector should give political leaders a deadline and a minimum period of three months to solve the crisis. DSI Group Managing Director Kulatunga Rajapaksha suggested that the business community should insist the government to have election in one day. Hambantota District Chamber's former President Azmi Thasim said that youth unrest in the south is one of the burning problems. The current political situation have slowed down all the development work. He said the business community along with religious leaders should come out and put pressure for political leaders to settle the problem as soon as possible. |
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