Is US losing Sri Lanka? Not yet says Cabraal in Forbes magazine article

• Opines it is time for US policy towards Sri Lanka to be more symmetrical and thereby serve both countries’ long term interests

Noting that US policies towards Sri Lanka are asymmetrical, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal is calling for a recalibration of policy to serve long term interests of both countries.

Writing an Op/Ed piece in the prestigious Forbes magazine this week, Central Bank Governor Cabraal says the US is applying heavy pressure toward the Sri Lanka Government to accelerate the reconciliation process with the minority Tamil population while ignoring the major strides that have been made towards this goal by the Sri Lankan Government and people.

At the same time, he says the US seems to be paying little attention to the geo-strategic dimensions of US-Sri Lanka relations as well as to the economic potential that Sri Lanka has to offer as the fastest growing economy in its region and as a gateway to a one billion people market in next door India.

Is US losin...

“When the US declared war on terror after 9/11, Sri Lanka had already been fighting such a war for decades. As with 9/11, Sri Lanka’s financial sector too was a target. On 31 January 1996, a Tamil suicide bomber drove a truck laden with high explosives into the building of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, killing 91 and injuring 1,300,” he said.

Cabraal says while reconciliation after a conflict is important, it is a psychological process that can take many years, decades in most cases, and which needs to follow its own course, driven by the parties involved.

“Perhaps US policy makers would do well to reflect as to how long the US took to reconcile after its own civil war. Sri Lankans need time and space to overcome the mistrust and the bitterness brought about by 30 years of war and terrorism. Outside support can be helpful, but outside pressure that appears to be inspired by a very vocal Tamil diaspora, without taking into account, achievements on the ground and the larger political and economic picture, is not well received or understood in Colombo,” he added.

Cabraal says Sri Lanka values its relations with America and at the same time increasingly depend on China and India for investments in infrastructure.

“Is the US ‘losing’ Sri Lanka? Not yet. In December 2009, Senators Kerry and Lugar circulated a report to their colleagues in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that concluded that US policymakers have tended to underestimate Sri Lanka’s geostrategic importance for American interests and that a more multifaceted US strategy would capitalise on the economic, trade, and security aspects of the relationship. On its part, Sri Lanka would welcome a recalibration of US policy towards a more symmetrical US strategy that takes into consideration, the key strategic, economic and trade perspectives. Surely, such a strategy will serve both countries’ long term interests,” Cabraal wrote in the article in Forbes. (Full article will be published in tomorrow’s FT)