Focus on agri development to optimise productivity - President

Agriculture is the backbone of many developing countries and the main source of income generation in the rural economy. Any agenda for development and growth should focus on the improvement of the agricultural sector and aggressively pursue measures and methods to optimise productivity. Poor farmers need help as they encounter many challenges President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the 60th Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting in Colombo.

The three-day meeting was attended by representatives of 53 Commonwealth member countries. Farming is a dignified profession and its dignity needs to be protected. Public investment is a vital factor for rural development for it is the lack of infrastructure facilities such as better transport, irrigation, communication and electricity that has stood in the way of growth in the rural economy.

Though many issues affecting the development of the country have been identified and discussed the areas still remain poor. Therefore we have launched a program to speed up the process of rural economic growth in the country.

Urbanisation is also a challenge faced by many countries and it has impacted on urban rural disparities which has resulted in problems relating to the living conditions of the urban poor. Therefore I propose the establishment of a Commonwealth Fund to address the human settlement issues of the urban poor, the President said.

The timely delivery of aid in support of home grown policies and strategies is essential for countries to make progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The President said that during the last 50 years the country has faced many challenges successfully and strongly - the last being the tsunami. Our vision now is to re-engineer the economy to create economic opportunities for the people to move out of poverty and we are doing it through a policy framework that aims to build a new economy with social justice.

There is no single answer to the problems of economic growth and development. Sound macro economic policies, sectoral reforms, institutional strengthening, infrastructure development, access to information and investment in research and development are the essential prerequisites for growth and sustainable development.

The President also said that we need to promote a partnership between the private and public sector

where necessary and appropriate to drive economic growth.

(SG)