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Speech of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, at the 'Business Today Top 10 Awards Ceremony' at the Hilton, Colombo, on Friday 26.

This is the time to reflect the time to pause and think about a direction for the future. This is the time to ask ourselves some questions. What do our people say? What do our people want? What do the different sectors of our society want us to help them to achieve?

Let me be frank and honest with you. The recent history of our country has been one of turmoil, of missed opportunities, of uncertain initiatives, and of policies whose fruits we have hardly enjoyed. In the course of my political career which spans a period of 35 years, it has become more and more clear to me that our country is yearning for a more positive - a more practical approach to the challenges of our times.

What our country needs is a new approach - a New Beginning. All sectors of our society are sick and tired of theories and verbose statements: sick of seeing the 'vision statements' of our leaders, which have been largely confined to words, and words alone. Like you, the captains of business, I too am impatient with words. And like you, the captains of business, I too want action first, action second, and action all the way.

Take the corporate sector as an example. Every successive government has gone on repeating that over-used mantra - "The Private Sector is the Engine of Growth" - and quietly abdicated much of the government's own responsibility for enabling economic growth in our country. Growth should be a joint effort of the Government and the private sector. In this partnership, the role of the government should be to create an enabling environment for commercial growth. But what is the ground reality? Government policies that are friendly towards the private sector are often found to be in place. But public sector institutions on the one side, and the country's public service on the other, have not been reformed or restructured to facilitate the implementation of the private sector friendly policies of the government. You know this better than me. Instead of enjoying the facility of an enabling environment, the private sector is still hemmed in, to a large extent, by an environment that is restrictive and frustrating.

This must be transformed. And to achieve this objective, you - the captains of business - must guide me. I don't for a moment claim to have all the answers to all the problems of our country. I am not a person who knows it all. Hence I will depend on the corporate sector on the one side, and the professional communities of our country on the other, to guide me in crafting solutions to the problems of growth and development. Please reach out to me - the doors of my house will be always open to you. I also count on you, the big players of the corporate sector, to help and guide the small and medium scale business of our country, to grow and become - some day - as important as you.

As a part of our 'New Beginning', I would also like to invite you to join me in an effort to evolve a new political culture in our country: One in which the public service is free of politics: And one in which a consensus is reached across the lines of party politics, on specific matters of national importance. For instance, all political parties must agree on a consistent set of policies for the private sector. A change of government should not result in a change of policy where the business sector is concerned. We must respect the fact that good business practice requires planning on a long term time horizon.

Let us invite the 'National Business Team' - the 'Business Today top 10 Award Winners of 2004' to take the lead in joining us in this 'New Beginning'. While we congratulate you, the 'Top 10 Business Champions' of 2004 - on the awards that you have won, let us also remind you that with your achievement you also undertake certain responsibilities for your country.

We endorse you today as the country's unofficial ambassadors to the outside world of business. You represent the business potential of our country. To the outside world, you represent what a business can achieve in the Sri Lankan business environment. You are a proxy for our country's business environment. Other investors, both foreign and local, will be convinced that if you can achieve success in the way you have, they too can succeed if they invest in our country.

In conclusion, therefore, we thank Business Today for providing an institutional platform for recognising the 'Ten Business Champions' of our country. The success of the champion team will attract more investment to our country. Your event today is therefore a very important one where our country is concerned.

We encourage and commend the tireless efforts of Business Today to organise a national event of this magnitude. I thank you once again for inviting me. Thank you.

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