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| Sunday, 22 February 2004 |
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Private sector told to be proactive partner in nation-building The Freedom Alliance last week invited the private sector to become a proactive partner in the nation-building process that requires intelligent, socially responsible policies to safeguard and strengthen the national economy and introduce opportunities for sustainable growth. The Freedom Alliance presented its policies to the business community and professional leaders of the country at the BMICH, on five priority areas. It was also an exercise to find out the views of the private sector and its concerns, to obtain its ideas for the preparation of the election manifesto. "The FA will follow a market-friendly economic policy driven primarily by the private sector with the State playing the role of proactive facilitator. "We hope to increase productivity in both the private and public sectors and encourage local farmers, rejuvenate local companies, increase efficiency and encourage global advances in management, said Information and Telecommunication Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. He said, "the future of the country belongs to the alliance and the alliance belongs to the youth of the country as the wealth of the country is the youth and not the properties or metals which can be dug from the ground." The Freedom Alliance will stand for a clean open, mixed economy and a clean public sector and will never stand for corruption, waste, blunder and inefficiency, added Minister Kadirgamar. "The Freedom Alliance will promote ethnic harmony with the ceasefire in operation as the Alliance reflects the will of the people. We hope to introduce a new constitution to strengthen democracy and adopt a non-aligned foreign policy proactively promoting regional co-operation.Answering a question by Joint Business Forum (JBIZ) Chairman Mahendra Amarasuriya, Dr. Sarath Amunugama said the Freedom Alliance is for a mixed economy, adopting a modern market-friendly economic policy as well as a rational investment policy. "We want to get the assistance of the WB and IMF to develop the country and, if we deal with them in a positive manner, we can get the expected results but, for that, we should know what we are doing", said a member of the JVP, a main party to the alliance. He said "we should move towards an agricultural economy as it is our base". Answering a question raised by Foreign Employment Agency representative, they said "that as 80 percent of the foreign exchange is earned by women workers, the alliance is planning to give them some security so that the number of dead bodies being flown back to the country can be reduced". The Alliance plans to introduce a code of conduct for politicians and those who violate it will be dealt with seriously. The JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said, "we are a political party learning from the past. We have done a self-criticism". Regarding the incidents in 1988/89, he said that he cannot talk about it without referring to the day after the elections of 1977. Democracy of this country started to erode rapidly after the conduct of the referendum in 1982 instead of going for a election in 1983. "We did make mistakes, the UNP suffered, but the people suffered the most, and we have learnt from the past. "You all are waiting to listen to us. We have surprised you and will surprise you further. We have not contributed to the economic crisis created by the previous governments and our party has not changed on one thing, commitment", he added. Answering questions posed by 'Sri Lanka First' promoter, Neela Marikkar, Minister Kadirgamar, said "the Alliance will give more independence and training to the police force while army deserters will be re-employed. The UN convention against corruption will be signed in the event there are no legal implications", he added. The alliance assured that the Cabinet would be limited to 35 ministers with no non-cabinet ministers. Meanwhile, the JBIZ has written to the President and the Prime Minister expressing the concerns of the JBIZ on the policies and the programmes of the next government to be formed. The policies and programmes revolve on the issues of ceasefire and peace negotiations, the constitution of the country, economic policy, power policy, agricultural policy, industrial policy, fisheries industry, information and communication technology, employment, education, taxation, labour reforms, privatisation, reducing the size of the state bureaucracy, productivity, Cabinet, governance, transparency, bribery and corruption, electoral reforms, service sector, budget deficit and implementation of policies. |
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