Chintana may be best panacea for greedy world

The World seems to have turned on its head with the “Global Financial Meltdown”., and the only remedy so far has been the injection of liquidity into the system to starve off possible collapse. The present times remind me of the novel by Charles Dickens, “The Tale of Two Cities” which begins with the famous words “It was the Best of Times and it was the worst of Times”, which rings true when we see the Rich getting richer and the Poor getting even poorer.

The Rich/Poor divide is widening to the extent that physical endurance bridging the two is sure to snap or may have done so already.

One of the most important world events had taken place already and the obvious is now well known and a few more are about to take place in November 2008 and may point to the future direction of the 21st Century.

Firstly the just concluded American Presidential Elections and the result was as expected. Next is a Summit to be held in Washington on the 15.11.08 when the leaders of the G20 nations meet to discuss the present crisis.

The third is the meeting of the leaders from the 21 APEC countries to be held from 22nd to 23rd November in Lima, Peru., which could be the defining moment for this organisation since its formation in 1989 through an Australian initiative.

The APEC grouping have in its fold countries such as the USA, China, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, Canada, South Korea and Australia who will also be at the G20 Summit.

The 21 APEC countries have a total population of 2.7 billion and GDP about US$38 trillion.

Our Australian PM has a ‘Grand Vision’ to form a ‘Asia Pacific Community’ by bringing the APEC and South Asian Countries (SAARC) together. SAARC which is a regional grouping of eight countries in South Asia has a total population of about 1.5 billion including mighty India who has been tapping at APEC’s door to join the big boys.

It makes good sense that the timing could be right for the two mainly ASIAN groupings to merge into one big community that will total almost two thirds of the world population specially with the domination of China and India.

Sri Lanka currently chairs the SAARC for the next two years and the Australian-Sri Lankan relations seems to be smelling roses with the recent visit of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister to Australia which has not taken place for almost a decade.

The Australia-Sri Lanka axis could be the linchpin to merge the two groups together should the need arise and its hopeful that it would propel Sri Lanka’s President to the world stage., and who knows his ‘Chintana’ could be the saving grace for the present ills of this ‘Greedy World’.

Trevor Jayetileke, Vice Chairman, Australia-Sri Lanka Council Inc., Victoria, Australia.