Industry should unite to prosper: Minister
Responding to the claims made by the immediate chairman, Deputy Minister Harsha De Silva, said that the government and the private sector should work handin-hand to take the industry forward.
He said pointing out government’s flaws only wouldn’t help. He said shipping and freight industry stakeholders should unite for the betterment of the industry before blaming the government.
“You talked about policy inconsistency; you talked about poor governance, all the government’s problems. You also said about liberalization of the shipping industry. We have to ask from the industry people whether they are for liberalization.
You criticized the government for not liberalizing. I’m for liberalizing. So I’m going to put that question back to you,” de Silva said.
Recalling history, he said that whenever Sri Lanka had prospered in the past, it had always leveraged on maritime opportunities, and it will be the same for the future as well.
He said that Sri Lanka has always been a major player in world trade given its unique geographical location.
Pointing out the declining trend in the country’s exports, de Silva said it is extremely important for Sri Lanka to have good diplomatic and trade relations with other countries
“We have to further strengthen trade ties with America. Trump will come and Trump will go, but discussions need to be started on access to these markets through trade agreements. We are trying to link Sri Lanka and to build bridges with rest of the world,” he stressed.