Is Sri Lanka geared for globalisation?

Can one imagine how long it took a ship to arrive from London to Colombo five centuries back? Now it takes only a couple days to courier a special package to any part of the world and a full file of any amount of documents could be sent to any part of the world in a few seconds using e-mails.

The pursuit for speed changed the whole dynamics of human interaction. Human interaction has now tremendously changed the global map and advances in transport and telecommunications technologies have made unprecedented strides. The search for speed is still on and technological devises keep changing every now and then and sometimes people find unable to keep pace with the changing technologies.

Human connectivity

Globalisation is the common term for global interaction or human connectivity and integration. The meaning and the process of globalisation took a dramatic turn with the advent of internet communications, electronic media, and social media networks. The electronic media also played an important part in integrating global societies.

The advances in internet applications would precipitate further interdependence of economic, political, cultural and social activities. The global markets have opened up for competition and are now under constant watch over innovation and product obsolescence in view of the ever increasing demand for products with more user friendly features.

How did Samsung overtake Nokia within a short period of time? It was due to increased innovation and giving the customers a range of options. The economic activities are so integrated that the loss of communications even for one second would cause tremendous damage to a functioning economy as human connectivity across the globe is only a few seconds away from each other.

The global connectivity of the corporate sector is so crucial that it must always be connected to world commodities and currency markets in order to be ahead of the competition.

Economic globalisation

Government decision making processes have also changed in order to make informed decisions. A government official at policymaking level now has easy access to information and he or she could also be connected to a mobile phone in order to adjust the policies as and when required.

What is important is the constant free flow of information and any break would distort the market trends and cause irreparable damage. It is therefore imperative that reliable telecommunications infrastructure should be in place to keep its functions uninterrupted. Policy analysts at both private and state sector, the media, and independent observers are all connected to mobile devises for information.

Global markets keep changing at ever-increasing pace and the institutions that produce goods and services need to be on the lookout for market fluctuations and surges in demand. The producers who are waiting for global opportunities must be supported by government initiatives, if not the opportunity would be lost. Eventually the country would lose an important export revenue source.

The Department of Commerce, Export Development Board, chambers of commerce along with Government policymakers now have a greater role in assisting local companies to secure export deals. Time would always be in favour of the importers.

If a Sri Lankan exporter is unable to make an informed decision, the overseas buyer would have other options from exporters from other countries. Globalisation has tremendously increased the competitiveness. If Sri Lankan exporters are constrained by obnoxious regulations, increased taxes, red tape, or due to lack of facilities, the Government must search for solutions and provide a completive advantage so that Sri Lankan exporters would be well geared to face the ever-increasing competition.

The export and trade chambers of commerce should highlight their grievances and bring them to the attention of the Government policymakers for quick fixes. It is indeed political advocacy that would provide the much-needed support from the Government.

The Economic Attaches of the Sri Lanka Diplomatic missions overseas should be fully geared to assist Sri Lankan exporters. Timely trade leads and vendor profiles are important tools in analysing the demand trends. The Sri Lankan missions overseas must produce country market reports for Sri Lankan exporters and position Sri Lankan exporters to participate in trade opportunities.

Image of Sri Lanka overseas

There has been a marked deterioration of the image of Sri Lanka overseas, partly due to strong pro-separatist lobby making mammoth effort to isolate Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s foreign policy too should undergo a drastic overhaul.

There are thousands of newspapers and websites worldwide and any wrong move by the Government would be highlighted in these electronic media instantly. A diplomatic mission with limited staff and resources cannot confront the global media and it is the Government that should be cautious in making decisions that would be detrimental to the image of Sri Lanka.

Political stability, respect for human rights, media freedom, rule of law, and above all the credibility must be upheld at any cost. These are the debilitating factors that would undermine Sri Lanka’s position overseas.

The foreign missions in Colombo, global rating agencies, political risk insurance analysts, and export financing banks would feed information and update the Sri Lanka Country Report. The importers would have constant access to these reports online and the overseas buyer would then find it would be risky to buy goods and services from Sri Lanka. It would be even more risky to invest in Sri Lanka given the absence of rule of law.

These are all negative factors the Government must take cognisance of. The Sri Lankan Government must make every effort to enhance its credibility by promulgating a code of conduct for ministers and senior public officials on the conduct of communications. The 21st century is the age of communications.

Economic fallout of globalisation

The net beneficiaries of globalisation are the advanced industrialised countries whereas Sri Lanka is a country with very limited resources to upgrade the infrastructure on par in order to compete globally.

All our energies and synergies have hitherto been directed at defeating the 30-year war on terrorism. Thanks to persistent efforts by the Government, terrorism has been rooted out, but unfortunately the ethnic reconciliation process has not been properly addressed. The level of poverty is still alarming though some advances have been made in literacy.

The Fancourt Commonwealth Declaration on Globalisation states: “The persistence of poverty and human deprivation diminishes us all. It also makes global peace and security fragile, limits the growth of markets, and forces millions to migrate in search of a better life. The greatest challenge therefore facing us today is how to channel the forces of globalisation for the elimination of poverty and the empowerment of human beings to lead fulfilling lives.”

The adverse side of globalisation is the shrinking workforce. The mechanisation of industries due to mass production would fuel redundancies and then higher unemployment would tend to cause social unrest. It is indeed a vicious cycle. It is therefore imperative that Government policymakers should strike the right balance.

Third world countries must voice their grievances at world parleys so that the mad rush towards globalisation can be halted and a broader discussion should be centred on how countries like Sri Lanka could be a partner in globalisation.  

(The writer is a freelance journalist and political lobbying and government relations consultant.)