‘University education should be linked to economic development’

By Gamini Warushamana

Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that university education should be linked to the economic development of the country. In the US post-graduate courses are directly allied to its economy. Courses of this type conducted by universities are very important at this juncture of development.

The SME sector has an important role in the economy and programs are needed to improve the knowledge and skills of the entrepreneurs, he said.

He was speaking at a Certificate Award Ceremony on Friday organised by the National Chamber of Commerce (NCCSL) in Colombo. Certificates were also awarded to small and medium scale entrepreneurs who had successfully completed the Certificate Course in ‘Entrepreneurship Management’ conducted by the Institute of Human Resources and Advancement (IHRA) of the Colombo University in association with NCCS. “Interference by powerful countries into our internal matters was a challenge that we faced today in development”, said Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

“Powerful countries excert undue influence on small countries if they have oil or if the country is in an important geographical location”, he said.

“Although we don’t have oil, the strategically important geographical position of Sri Lanka on the world map has created new challenges in the country’s development,” he said.

Referring to remarks made by the US Ambassador recently on the procedures of impeachment against the Chief Justice, he said, “US Ambassadors always ask why we don’t punish military officers for human rights violations.”

“My response has always been, ‘we should follow a proper procedure before punishing’. The US does not supply arms to Sri Lanka and only provides training for the security forces. Recently they rejected some names we proposed for training based on wrong information. If they do not provide training for our forces I will send them to China for training,” he said.