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| Sunday, 15 May 2005 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 Sri Lanka Development Forum Our hill capital World Heritage City Kandy will host the Sri Lanka Development Forum tomorrow and the day after. This is a sequel to a request made by the government. This no doubt is a historic occasion. For several reasons this forum has special significance. First and foremost it is the first such forum held in Sri Lanka. Previous forums were held in Paris and Tokyo. By holding it here and chairing the sessions Sri Lanka has a better prospect of presenting its case before the donors. This is also the first Development Forum after the installation of the UPFA government. Hence, the donors will have a better chance to acquaint themselves with the new economic strategies of the UPFA. On the other hand, the UPFA government also would get a better chance to understand the mechanisms of aid flow. Thirdly it is being held in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster that struck our shores last year-end. The delegates would be able to get a first hand knowledge of the ground situation and assess the progress of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities undertaken so far. Since the forum is held in Sri Lanka civil society representatives also have received an opportunity to witness its deliberations and even present their own papers. If it were held abroad only a few government representatives would have participated in it. Thus the whole process will be more transparent this time. The Development Forum is not a political confab. Neither is it a debating club or a talk shop. Nor is it a one-way mechanism where the donors dictate terms. It is a process of dialogue where important economic issues are dealt with seriously. Its atmosphere is business like. The government fully conscious of its nature has prepared comprehensive reports on issues to be discussed. The donors would be greatly interested in the performance of Sri Lanka in the post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. That is why two sessions have been assigned for it. Thus the forum will present Sri Lanka with a chance to get the donors more committed to the rebuilding of the devastated areas. The presence of international donors in Sri Lankan soil and their interaction with the media would also help dispel certain myths concerning it that has been consciously or unconsciously disseminated so far. The first myth is its alleged link with the setting up of a so-called joint mechanism for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction in the tsunami affected North East. As World Bank Resident Representative Peter Harrold and US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead have already clarified, aid is not tied to the setting up of such a mechanism. Though they would like to see such a mechanism in place as early as possible that is a decision left to the government of Sri Lanka, they opined. Another myth widely circulated by interested parties is that Sri Lanka would not get aid unless the peace process is re-activated. The US $ 4.5 billion aid pledged at the Tokyo Conference has been kept on hold so far, they said. Actually we have already received some of the aid pledged at Tokyo. Though there was a clause in the Tokyo Declaration binding the aid with the peace process the $4.5 billion contained much normal aid pledged by the World Bank and the IMF. Nor was that amount for a single year. It was the total aid that was expected to flow in the course of three years. By spreading such false and alarming stories Opposition politicians are acting both irresponsibly and unpatriotically. We hope the forum would also give the donors an opportunity to assess the progress our country has achieved in rehabilitating the tsunami affected areas and the people. As Deputy UN Special Representative Bowles said the December 26 tsunami was the worst natural disaster in the entire history of mankind. It struck Sri Lanka most atrociously. Hence, compared to the magnitude of the destruction Sri Lanka could well be proud of its achievements so far. The major snag in the reconstruction phase was the non-availability of land in close proximity to the original settlements of the displaced persons. As we report elsewhere this problem has also been settled in the main. Therefore a more vigorous implementation of the reconstruction effort could be witnessed in the near future. It is our earnest wish that the Development Forum, which begins today, would add a new momentum not only to the reconstruction of tsunami affected areas but also for all round economic resurgence. |
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