The Sri Lankan government should implement reforms and urgently execute measures to curb corruption, said Japanese ambassador to Sri Lanka, MIZUKOSHI Hideaki.
He said that major creditors to Sri Lanka, such as China, India, Japan have spelt out positive sentiments towards debt restructuring and IMF staff level agreement too seems to be on the cards and Sri Lanka on their part has to undertake reforms and bring in new laws to curb corruption.
He said that Sri Lanka went through its worst economic crisis starting from the Easter Sunday attacks, followed by C -19 pandemic, Ukraine Russia war and the local economic crisis. “Sri Lanka has now got a golden opportunity to bounce back and this is the last Chance Sri Lanka will have to do so. And to come out of this current economic crisis, Sri Lanka should do their part.”
Ambassador Hideaki also said that Sri Lanka should also speed up their program on reforming State Owned Enterprises. Ambassador was speaking at the 64th annual general meeting of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka loaded with several presentations which dragged on for many hours so much so that the Deputy President, of NCCSL, Anura Warnakulasooriya said he would not make a vote of thanks due to time constraints. At the AGM, Deepal Nelson was elected President replacing Nandika Buddhipala.
“Sri Lanka should also look at re-arranging its economy towards a more export oriented economy and the manufacturing sector should be strengthened with exports in mind.”
The Ambassador also said that the government should also take steps to breach regional disparity.He said Japan will keep on assisting Sri Lanka towards all these initiatives and other areas. He also recalled that Japan provided USD 96 million from 2022 to date to support Sri Lanka in various sectors.
He also said that during the crisis there were many FDI from Japan to Sri Lanka which included opening a four-star hotel in Colombo, education institute and an investment from Toyota Lanka.
“We will keep on channeling more Japanese FDI to Sri Lanka and will also be providing more assistance to Sri Lanka especially towards technical advancement and other areas.”
Chief justice Jayantha Jayasuriya who was the Chief Guest said that chambers should support the government by providing novel strategies to overcome the current economic situation.
President elect Deepal Nelson said that he is taking over the presidency when Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis and would work with stakeholders to assist overcome this.
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