Economic sanctions against Sri Lanka remote

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera said that 1.7 million Sri Lankans are employed in foreign countries and that this would be the main reason for Western countries to refrain from imposing economic sanctions against Sri Lanka.

The Minister was addressing a conference in Colombo, yesterday to create awareness on the current development activities in the field of foreign employment.

The Minister said that people should not get glittery over an economic embargo as it would never happen due to the service rendered by a record number of Sri Lankan migrant workers in Western countries.

The Minister commended the invaluable service rendered by SrI Lankan migrant workers and said that the valuable foreign exchange they bring to the country could be considered the highest income received by Sri Lanka every year surpassing all other foreign exchange earnings. He said the foreign exchange brought by Sri Lankan workers is on the increase and during 2011 they brought Rs. 499 million and a 50 percent increase is anticipated this year too.

"Therefore their service is second only to the service rendered by our Security Forces who also sacrificed their lives to protect our motherland during terrorism". The Minister said that the Sri Lankan Security personnel are called `Ranaviruvo',and migrant workers `Rataviruvo'.