Sri Lanka must look at a disciplined society and the rule of law must prevail, said former Chairman PERC, and present Chairman EAP Group, Mano Tittawella at the economic summit 2017 yesterday at Cinnamon Grand.
He said that Singapore in 1960 was in a bad state with unlawful society and the country today has transformed as a major economic power. “This was made possible due to implementing tough laws,” he said.
This sentiment was also endorsed by Dr. Aravind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India. He said that Sri Lanka badly needs a framework change to create a disciplined society to take the country forward.
Subramanian said that the country should also change its economic direction from time to time in a bid to adjust to changes in the world. “If you take Singapore in 1960’s it was a country with unrest and violence.”
Then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew tightened criminal laws and implemented tough discipline. “The former Prime Minister even went to the extent of banning the eating of chewing gum and this worked well and the sociality got disciplined.”
He said that then Singapore introduced the free port concept and followed it by offering bunkering facilities at competitive rates to attract globe businesses. Subsequently the country went in to manufacture cheap electronics and electoral appliances and with the price of labour increasing the next Singapore was transformed as a financial hub.
Moving with modern day demands Singapore has now readjusted as a major tourism, education and medical hub attracting major global businesses.
He said India too opened their economy but had controls to safe guard local businesses.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced a new financial bill cancelling some of the high value currencies and this was a message to install discipline in the country. The recent introduction of GST which may be the biggest reform that happened in the region to is a step taken in this angle and it has simplified the tax system to a great extent.
“Before this was implemented it was easy to transform money from Bombay to London than transferring them from Bombay to Delhi,” he added.
The two-day event will conclude today. Sunshine Holdings PLC is the Platinum Sponsor of the event, Standard Chartered Bank enters the fray as the Gold Sponsor, Fonterra Brands as the Silver Sponsor and Dialog Axiata is the Telecommunications Partner. Whilst Janashakthi Insurance, Prima Group, Nestle Lanka, GS1 Lanka and Sri Lanka Convention Bureau join in as the strategic partners. Echo Wave comes is the Digital Events Platform Partner and OMD of OmniCom MediaGroup is the communications partner.
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