To combat terrorism:
Redouble efforts for collective action - President
Address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 15th SAARC Summit
inaugural session yesterday at the BMICH.
“I am honoured and privileged to welcome you to Colombo for this
fifteenth SAARC Summit.
Your presence in our country adds to the historic importance of this
year for us. This year, our nation celebrates the sixtieth Anniversary
of our being freed from the yoke of colonial rule. Most of the nations
of our region share with us the common heritage of colonial dominance
and struggle for freedom to restore our national dignity and honour.
I consider it is my duty on this occasion to express on behalf of all
Member States of SAARC, our deep appreciation for the dynamic leadership
that India has provided to this region and to SAARC since the fourteenth
SAARC Summit in New Delhi.
I would also take this opportunity to welcome and extend best wishes
to the new Secretary General of SAARC, Dr. Sheel Kant Sharma, while also
expressing our appreciation to his predecessor, Mr. Chenkyab Dorji and
the SAARC Secretariat for their dedicated and invaluable work in
preparation for this Summit.
This Colombo Summit takes place amidst a background of significant
political events and major international issues, such as food and fuel
insecurity and degradation of the environment.
It is our responsibility as leaders and representatives of our
peoples to give tangible expression to the SAARC Charter objective of
promoting the welfare and improving the quality of life of our peoples,
which remains at the core of all our common endeavours.
The Delhi Summit launched SAARC as a Partnership for Prosperity, for
the Prosperity of Our People, identifying the importance of connectivity
as a powerful engine of growth. Continuity, consistency and coordination
are all vital to have the desired practical effect towards our goal of
regional economic integration.
However, we must ensure that SAARC becomes more meaningful to all our
people. Therefore, throughout the ensuing year we have to give SAARC a
truly people-centred focus through all its programmes and mechanisms. It
is then that SAARC can become the robust Partnership for Growth for all
our people.
Continued progress
South Asia’s continued progress in economic and social development is
a matter of great satisfaction to me. Unemployment in our country, as
well as in the region, has reached historic low levels leading to
declines in overall poverty. South Asia is no more the poverty trough of
the world, although we have yet to eradicate poverty from our midst.
Yet, for growth to be sustainable, its benefits must be evenly
distributed, pro-poor strategies must be put into place, and the rural
populations that make up the vast majorities in all our countries, must
be empowered ensuring gender equality.
The SAARC Social Charter and our shared experiences and best
practices, already provide a solid foundation to further strengthen
empowerment of the rural people.
In our own country, the Policy Vision of the Mahinda Chintana, my
electoral pledge to the people of Sri Lanka, addresses this issue and
seeks to transform current challenges into opportunities for the uplift
of the rural people.
It is a matter of satisfaction that we are progressively
inaugurating, in each of our countries, SAARC villages as visible
examples of our collective commitment to rural uplift. The most recent
such village was opened on 27th July this year in Nawalapitiya, in the
central hill region of Sri Lanka.
As we meet today, most countries of our region are faced with the
curse of terrorism that threatens the peace and stability that is needed
so much for the forward march of our people. No country in the SAARC
region has been spared of this plague.
We need to redouble our efforts for collective action to combat
terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It is important to
remember the element of interdependence which is crucial for a durable
peace and the protection of democratic values in the region.
We must ensure strengthening regional legal mechanisms and
intensifying intelligence sharing, in order to secure the region’s
collective prosperity, peace and stability.
Further, I would strongly suggest that in-depth studies are carried
out to understand the social impact of this menace. Sri Lanka has seen
the benefits of such cooperation in combating the terrorism in our midst
and hopefully eradicating it sooner, than many once expected.
Gratitude
My gratitude must go to all our regional partners and our many
friends from other quarters that have cooperated with us in this matter.
In my view it is also necessary that we, as a region, endeavour to
set right the many wrong impressions that exist, or are promoted
elsewhere, about the actions that are imperative to protect our people
and societies from the brutalities of terrorism. Terrorism anywhere is
terrorism and there are no good terrorists or bad terrorists.
Asia’s economic surge provides our region with manifold
opportunities. We are on the threshold of a new age .... the Age of Asia
...with South Asia being an important part of it, not only in numbers
but also in skills and the strength of growing economies. Today, Asia is
the economic power house of the world.
To ensure that we in the SAARC provide the necessary thrust for
Asia’s economic surge, I would once again promote the idea of SAARC
intensifying to the maximum possible its regional economic and trade
integration. We have to set in motion a process of adopting a single
currency in the region.
Undoubtedly, full implementation of the SAFTA and other follow-up
measures will greatly facilitate the realisation of this vision. Our
region also should assume a leadership role in the reform of
Multi-lateral Financial Institutions.
Today, as never before we are confronted with the global issues of
food and energy insecurity and climate change. Food prices in
international markets have increased by 54 percent in the past year
alone. World oil prices have increased by 300 percent over the past four
years. These are the statistics of near despair. Yet, I believe that we
need not despair.
I propose that we seize this challenge and transform it into
opportunity, with focus on agriculture, on food security that is largely
based on home grown food; that we look at realistic policies on
nutrition, at strategies for development that are least dependent on the
forces of speculation and markets that have no feel for the people.
We must productively use existing mechanisms such as the SAARC Food
Bank and the SAARC Development Fund, for the development of strategic
buffer stocks of our staple foods.
Food security is vital because of its impact on all sectors of
national life. It is today recognised as an essential condition for
economic and political stability. We also need to act fast on meeting
the energy crunch. There is the necessity to accelerate our plans for
South Asian energy sharing.
Knowing that we have to depend on fossil fuels for many more decades
to come, we must explore the use of other sources of energy that will
take us out of the deadly grip of the oil well. However, pursuit on
Bio-fuels must not be at the cost of food crops or arable land.
To take the next leap from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we have
to move with speed on harnessing the Sun, the Sea, and the Wind
resources that all of our countries have in plenty. South Asia must look
at shared research in the areas with potential for local technologies in
harnessing renewable energy.
New focus
As we grapple with the issues of food and fuel security, we will also
need to address as a matter of priority, the looming water deficit in
the region. King Parakramabahu, an ancient ruler of Sri Lanka, advised
the people not to allow a single drop of water to flow into the sea
without first being of use to the people. We must bring a new focus on
conservation of water resources to ensure that South Asia would be the
best watered region in the world.
Asia’s evolution has been founded on ancient traditions of
environmental sustainability, integrating environmental responsibility
with cultural and religious values. We should go back to the tradition
of sharing that sustained our people in the past, shedding the tradition
of exploitation of nature that came to us from our former conquerors.
Throughout our region there is increasing movement from the village
to the city, resulting in degradation of the environment and human
dignity. Let us therefore commit ourselves to upgrade village housing
and facilities, through a sound mix of traditional construction methods
and material with modern technology, to discourage people from moving
out of the villages.
In the cities, we need to further evolve models of urban design and
housing construction that strengthen the inherited spirit of social
community common to all our societies.
The Delhi Summit last year laid stress on connectivity. Today, we
find that with the advances of communications technology, good
connectivity is not very far from our people.
Although the numbers of mobile phone users in South Asia are rapidly
increasing yet, our people remain distanced through the barrier of
tariffs. I, therefore, propose that we actively promote a reduced tariff
for IDD calls within the South Asian region to bring our people much
closer, much sooner.
We, in South Asia share a rich and common heritage, a heritage of
understanding and of tolerance, a heritage that respects learning and
wisdom, and takes pride in sharing the bounties of nature.
But for this great heritage that transcends differences and upholds
the value of a shared purpose and existence, our diverse cultures,
languages and religious traditions could have made us the most divided
region in the world. Instead, by and large we see a great harmony among
our peoples.
In my own country, the impact of this common heritage is best seen
today in what we have achieved in the East, where we have defeated
terrorism, restored democracy, elected a Chief Minister from a minority
community who was a former child soldier, and, most of all, where the
Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities live together, work together,
and together seek the common goals of progress and prosperity.
This indeed is a unique transformation within a short span of one
year. This is my deep desire for the people in the North as well.
In conclusion may I say that there must be a spirit of large
heartedness by all including the stronger and wealthier nations, when
some of these crucial issues are addressed.
It is my fervent hope that the Colombo Summit will enable our
dialogue with the Observer States to broaden into a process for
constructive consultations, and project related cooperation in agreed
areas. I have no doubt that together we can make our common endeavours,
this Partnership, succeed for the benefit of all our peoples.
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