UPDATE: My vision includes elimination of poverty, corruption - President

My vision for Sri Lanka includes elimination of poverty, corruption that would hinder progress of the nation - President Mahinda Rajapaksa said at the Momentum Biz forum.

President Rajapaksa said, “the post-conflict focus remains one of creating the platform for rapid social development and economic growth. This included restoring democracy throughout the country, particularly in the North and East, while ensuring that peace, security and stability are guaranteed. The very conduct of this election for the presidency is proof of the vibrancy of the democracy that has been restored.

My vision and action in the second term has been to restore economic stability, ensure a major growth of the economy, expand investment opportunities and thereby ensure social growth throughout the country. 

A major aspect of this is the Long-term Infrastructure Development that you see in all parts of the country, embracing the entire nation, from East to West, North to South and in the Centre. This covers both urban and rural in modern times. You fully benefit today from what can only be described as a revolutionary change in our transport network of roads, highways and expressways. 

There is also an accompanying improvement in the rail network. All of this fosters connectivity by making travel times shorter and very importantly, helps in the speedy transport of goods and produce. You see that we are building critical infrastructure projects, with a clear long-term strategy in ports and airports – with the major developments at Hambantota, which is ideally placed to exploit Sri Lanka’s strategic location for faster development.

All of this combined with our positive economic policies with conducive macro-economic factors and the concessions for critical private investments, both local and from abroad have seen the steady growth of GDP, leading to Sri Lanka achieving and soon exceeding a per capita earnings of US dollars 4,000 by next year; Yes, the election year, when we will harvest part of the success in the previous five years.”

The forum was held to conclude with a panel discussion with Lalith Weeratunga, Permanent Secretary to the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as well as the keynote speakers.

Dian Gomes, Group Director, MAS Holdings; Ranjit Page, Deputy Chairman/CEO, Cargills; Hiran Cooray, Chairman, Jetwing and Kishu Gomes, Managing Director, Chevron Lubricants too addressed the event.