The government should move on, across the board, with addressing issues raised in the Ease of Doing Business Index. Many of these were described and policy ambitions put forward in the Vision 2025 strategy that the President and the Prime Minister launched in October 2017.
Freer trade, lower barriers, less protectionism, more dependable enforcement of contracts, simpler property registration rules are some of the keys, to fostering a climate favourable to entrepreneurial activity and wealth creation, to making Sri Lanka prosperous and to having its companies thrive, not just in domestic markets but around the world, British High Commissioner, James Dauris said.
He was speaking at the launch of Sri Lanka - United Kingdom Bilateral Trade and Investment report at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. The High Commissioner focussed his speech on three questions the business community and the foreign trade communities often question about, in order to increase trade and investment between countries. The questions include; 1. What steps ought the government to take to help trade and investment grow and the country to become more prosperous? 2. What steps ought businesses and businessmen to take? 3. And what steps ought the Ceylon Chamber, its member chambers and similar business bodies to take? Answering the question on what steps ought businesses and businessmen to take, Dauris said, “The first, that Sri Lanka needs each and every company and each and every businessman and woman to be setting and sticking to principled standards and practices, and needs them to be holding their employees, customers and suppliers to these. It needs them also to be holding the politicians and officials they talk to and work with to the same high standards. I’ve been here long enough to have a good idea how hard this can often be. But I do have confidence that when enough people take a stand, big hurdles can be overcome and big changes achieved.
“The second that the business community needs companies that are leading in their fields to help take forward these changes and support the government with efforts to liberalise the market and make it easier to do business. As senior business managers and leaders, you have key roles to play in holding the government and others to account. Hand in hand with this responsibility goes a responsibility for supporting the government, for sharing the good advice you can give that will inform wise decision-making, for standing with the government when it wants to take sensible steps but is meeting opposition.
“And my third thought is this. During my time in Sri Lanka I have seen some fantastic examples of big companies doing great things. But rather often businessmen have also shared their concerns with me about anti-competitive behaviours of companies and businessmen that are big enough to make a difference but that either aren’t helping or are actively blocking progress.
Monopolies and oligopolies are jealously guarded by businesses that have them around the world. They are lucrative, of course, but they rarely serve the interests of the consumer well. Whatever the field, in business as in sport, a lack of competition pulls standards down. Competition stimulates innovation and efficiencies, it feeds ideas, it encourages product innovation and higher customer service standards. You need these companies and these people to help move free trade forward, not hold it back.”
For the third question, on what steps ought the Ceylon Chamber, its member chambers and similar organisations to take, the High Commissioner said the voice of business and the collective voice as business leaders matter.
“I see the Chambers having both the authority and the responsibility to speak up for the changes that are needed to move the country up the Ease of Doing Business Index. Acting together they have the power to be a formidable force for good practice and for change. I’d encourage them to use their public authority and influence with the government to help press down on permit mentalities and to support the liberalisation of laws and regulations that hold business development back.
“This won’t always be easy or most effective for small chambers to do by themselves.
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