Prospering Libya-Lanka ties

Libya has held out an alluring prospect for Lankan overseas job seekers in the desert country. Libyan Prime Minister Dr. Ali Baghadi at meeting with visiting Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama had commented on the high quality of Sri Lankan migrant workers.

He said they require a 100,000 labour force in the country for their future development activities and asked Sri Lanka to make use of the opportunity. He has also suggested that both countries enter into an agreement for the supply of manpower to Libya.

Parallel to this the Government of Sri Lanka and Libya have agreed to set up a business council in Libya to serve private sector efforts and to provide consular services to the increasing number of Sri Lankan job seekers.

Libya has been a strong non-aligned partner of Sri Lanka and always a close friend with healthy bilateral and trade ties dating back several decades. This relationship has now been reinforced with the special ties maintained by President Mahinda Rajapaksa with Arab nations - especially his sympathies with the Palestinian cause.

It should be recalled that the first exodus of Sri Lankan job seekers for Middle East employment occurred immediately following the highly successful Non-aligned summit in 1976 where Libya was a prominent participant.

It is still one of the largest buyers of Sri Lanka tea in addition to aiding in other aspects in the economic and military sphere. Cashing in on this goodwill Sri Lanka should lose no time in availing itself of this opportunity in the Libyan job market.

The fact that Libya is enamoured by the skills and ability of Lankans should be seized upon to by the Foreign Employment Ministry to get as many recruits for the available vacancies. An immediate link should be forged between the relevant agencies in both countries whereby the best of terms should be secured for our Lankans.

It goes without saying that the Middle East job boom which began in the late seventies had delivered a large mass of Sri Lankans from the poverty trap. Some of them even went on to set up their own businesses and became capitalists of a kind.

Time was when we saw streams of vehicles with heavy baggage tied to their hoods carrying returning housemaids to far flung areas in the rural hinterland. The money they earned while providing for their families also enabled them to purchase the latest electrical gadgets and home alliances which were earlier the preserve of the rich. Most of them built homes, purchased plots of land and gave away their children in marriage with the petro dollars earned.

This is besides their enormous contribution to the country’s economy through foreign remittances that formed a leading component of our forex earnings. There was of course the downside to this with many a housemaid fleeced and ill treated, with some of them returning in coffins.

But by and large the opportunity to earn the kind of money abroad which they could not even dream of in Sri Lanka brought sunshine to the lives of a majority and pulled out many a family out of their economic rut paving the way for a reasonably comfortable life.

Why we mention all this is to point out the enormous opportunities the middle East job boom provided to most Lankans and the transformation it wrought on the country’s social and economic landscape.If not for this avenue there is no doubt the country’s economic and social problems would have been exacerbated and compounded the political unrest the country witnessed at the time.

That Sri Lanka is in possession of skilled manpower is all too well known as has been demonstrated in many spheres and disciplines where they have held their own with the best in world. What is however keeping their enterprise from flowering out here is the obvious lack of incentives and the potential for advancement.

Hence the massive brain drain that we have witnessed over the years where the country was denied the service of the cream of it’s professionals.While taking pride in the demand for Lankan expertise the Government also should strive to retain it’s skilled manpower through incentives and the offer of brighter prospects.

It is in this respect that we commend the President’s move to use the skill and expertise of overseas Lankans in the mega projects planned for the country.This would provide the catalyst for a rethink on the part of our professionals that would help stem the brain drain.