New Govt. woos diaspora with “Welcome home” push

Saturday, 28 February 2015 00:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Investment Promotion and Highways Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne – Pic by Upul Abayasekara By Charumini de Silva In a bid to fast track development, the Government yesterday insisted it would ease visa processes and dual citizenship to encourage returnees from Sri Lanka’s influential diaspora. “We want to make this country a ‘welcome home’ for Sri Lankans living across the world. We would receive them as people who could help us with expertise, knowledge, transfer of technology and also bring in capital,” Investment Promotion and Highways Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne said yesterday. “There were many roadblocks, particularly for Sri Lankans living overseas, with their entry into the country, but I can assure you that these issues are being looked into by our Government,” Wickramaratne said after inaugurating the two-day conference on ‘Our Sri Lanka 2025: Engaging Persons of Sri Lankan Origin Overseas’ organised by the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). He emphasised that the Government’s economic strategy is not based as much on debt as it is on attracting investments and FDIs, but looks forward to engaging with Sri Lankans living overseas who have education, knowledge and expertise. He also said that the Government was committed to pursuing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report, where it would institute a domestic mechanism with key principles of truth, justice and reconciliation. “In every area, the expectations are very high. Most people expect us to do everything in 100 days and undo the history of 30 years or at least the past 10 years. This is one of the challenges that we all face, including people like me, in a short sprint over the next few weeks,” Wickramaratne stressed. In addition to the economic, social and political perspectives, it is more important to look into these issues from more humane as well as cultural perspectives. Wickramaratne said post 8 January, the country had regained the freedom to move toward openly and talk about these issues. “We will not be pursuing people who have different views or different ideas about the State or the way it should function. Our Government has demonstrated this by few preliminary steps in 48 days. At the moment we are working on the release of land for resettlement and there’s a lot more to be done,” he pointed out. Noting that the Government was committed to creating a better governance structure, he said that they would fight ignorance and corruption. “Life is full of decisions, it’s full of risks, and what actually motivates us in taking those decisions should be matters of principle rather than the consequences that might arise,” he noted.