Sri Lanka's foreign affairs initiatives then and now

I refer to the perceptive article "The game changer" written by Dr. Sarala Fernando, one of our highly regarded diplomats of yesteryear, which appeared in your newspaper on January 29, 2017. She referred to one or two initiatives in foreign affairs in her time.

I would like to expand on this theme and refer to several initiatives in foreign affairs which were taken in the period 1948 - 1977 when we had a system of parliamentary government and the foreign minister was the Prime Minister, as provided for in the Jennings constitution.

Two of the earliest initiatives was by the then finance minister J.R. Jayewardene in the early 1950s. He was the co-author of the Colombo Plan with Sir Percy Spender, the Foreign Minister of Australia to establish this scheme for technical assistance for South and South East Asia. This initiative came within a Commonwealth framework.

Then there was the far sighted decision taken by J.R.J to waive war reparations from Japan at the San Francisco conference, which laid the foundations of a strong Ceylon-Japan friendship which has lasted to this day.

In the 1950s, there was another initiative to negotiate the Rubber-Rice pact with China which cemented a strong friendship with China at a time when China was facing many challenges. These initiatives in foreign affairs were largely from outside the foreign ministry.

Under Mrs. Bandaranaike, in the 1960s and the 1970s there were many initiatives. She attached a very high priority to the Indo-Sri Lanka relationship. The SirimaShastri pact on Indians living in Sri Lanka, and the agreement on Kachchativu are striking instances of this strong relationship.

In early 1962, when war broke out between India and China, Mrs. Bandaranaike took an important initiative to negotiate peace between the two countries, undertaking missions to see the leaders of China and India. That was a very high profile mission at the time, and it also reflects on the standing of Ceylon at the time.

Mrs. Bandaranaike was also the author of the high profile proposal to establish a Zone of Peace in the Indian Ocean.

In 1976, when Mrs. Bandaranaike was Prime Minister, she hosted the 5th NonAligned Summit in Colombo. That was Sri Lanka punching above its weight. At the summit itself, Mrs. Bandaranaike initiated a proposal to establish a Third World Commercial and Merchant Bank, which was later taken up by UNCTAD.

She also initiated action to take up Prof. Senaka Bibile's schemes on pharmaceuticals at the summit.

Then at the Commonwealth Summit held in Kingston, Jamaica, she proposed arrangements within the Commonwealth to stem the brain drain from the poorer countries.

In 1974 Sri Lanka also hosted the 30th Annual Sessions of ECAFE (now United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific- ESCAP). That was the first big international conference to be held in Sri Lanka, and the first at the BMICH. There, she made a proposal to establish a World Fertilizer Fund (WFF), which was then taken up by Sri Lanka at the World Food Conference in 1974. This proposal led to the establishment of the International Fertiliser Supply Scheme under UN auspices. These proposals at the time when the world was facing a food crisis led to Mrs. Bandaranaike being awarded the prestigious Ceres Medal by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

I would like to make a few further observations in this context. When Prime Ministers were foreign ministers, they allowed the foreign ministry and its professionals to advice them and did not interfere in details. They did not have the time to do so, and even if they had, they allowed the foreign ministry officials to implement policies. The best foreign ministers of this country have been the Prime Ministers.

After 1978, we had several foreign ministers who were not the best people for the job, and they ruined what was a highly professional service. The foreign ministry itself lost its stature and several ministers used the ministry budget for unnecessary travels abroad and interfered with all kinds of ministry appointments.

One of the results of the lack of professionalism in the foreign office and political interference was the deterioration of the all-important relationship with India, which contributed largely to the subsequent civil war, which has cost the country dear. This neglect of the relationship with India led to the ignominious Indo-Sri Lanka agreement of 1987, which curtailed the actions of Sri Lanka as a sovereign nation. This is in total contrast to the way Sri Lanka managed its affairs in the 1970s when Sri Lanka gave landing rights to Pakistani planes in the face of strong objections from India.

In the last 40 years, Sri Lanka's opportunities to take initiatives in foreign policy have been appreciably diminished as a result of losing its stature in the world. Sri Lanka now has to seek favours from other countries to defend itself in UN bodies and at other forums.

Once again Sri Lanka must develop its capacities to take relevant initiatives in international relations. These initiatives need not originate only from the foreign ministry, specially on economic issues. Many ministries in the country have an international dimension to their work, and they should be encouraged to develop ideas in their own fields, within the UN system, and outside.