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Friday Nov 29, 2024
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Following is the address by EasternProvince Governor Austin Fernando at the Trincomalee Consultations on 16 February, held at the Cinnamon Grand. The Trincomalee Consultations, a two-day conference, was convened by the Pathfinder Foundation and saw the participation of the countries in the Bay of Bengal, which are dependent on the bay for their trade and other interactions
Chairman Bernard Goonetilleke, Mr.Paskeralingam, Excellencies, Senior Advisor Prime Minister, Mr.MilindaMoragoda, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, as you are perhaps aware I do not belong to the group called ‘economists’ or ‘experts’ on international affairs since I am a retired Sri Lanka Administrative Service officer –SLAS, like the IAS of India. Therefore, I believe the subject matter for this Consultation could be more relevant to my friends Bernard Goonetillekeor SiriPalihakkara, great diplomats produced by Sri Lanka in recent times, and others including greats who have come here from abroad.
I stand here as a person holding a position which is administrative andpolitical. Perhaps, my being stationed in Trincomalee and your Consultation being ‘Trincomalee Consultations,’ would have been the reasons for inviting me as the Chief Guest. I need to thank Bernard Goonetillekeand Pathfinder Foundation for having honoured me by inviting to address a gathering of great intellectuals and seasoned professionals.
In this regard, I wish to first revisit the plans on-line by the Government of Sri Lanka towards development. As our Prime Minister emphasised in Singapore on 18 July last year, the Government plans for economic and infrastructure projects among others,to reshape the country’s urban landscape with two airports and two sea ports.Among them aimed to be completed within the 15 years is the Trincomalee Port Development Project.My concern as the Governor of the East is naturally on it.
I consider Trincomalee Port development has your concerns on economic development and security governance. The economic concerns are on the factors of economic development existing in my Province and around Trincomalee. These concerns are based on demand and supply of factors motivating and sensitising development.
The demand arises from what the investors expect from a development zone, mostly as inputs. They require land, manpower, stability, access, ports, communication facilities, cooperative administration, etc. and marketing feasibilities.These factors are mostly supplied by Mother Nature, law and order organisations, developed and developable resource availability, governmental and sub-governmental administrative structures, private sector etc. and instruments such as trade arrangements with the large market around us- especially located in Bay of Bengal precincts.
Bay of Bengal is an Indo-Pacific mid-point. It provides service and market interconnectivity to Asia’s fastest growing economies- e.g. India, China, Indonesia, South Korea. It is located on energy routes from Middle East that pass through the Asia’s prosperous growth region. We have to be mindful of the fact that Asia-Pacific now contributes 40% of global GDP, two-thirds of global growth. Asia alone is expected to contribute to it over 40% by 2030.
Any development effort has to balance these demand and supply factors rooted in the growth environment. It may be required to address the SWOT Analysis of each of these factors, so that the gap filling exercise of demand and supply could be done professionally and scientifically.
Let me delve a little on them with focus on Trincomalee. Trincomalee has one of the largest natural harbours in the world that has vast development potential.Since handing over by the British in 1957, it is underutilised. It needs modernising as destabilisation in the east due to terrorismprevented modernisation. Reflecting to the present, the difference between Hambantota and Trincomalee is that the former has well developed infrastructure like Mattala Air Port and Hambantota Magampura Port, but still vehemently clamouring for investment. In Trincomalee the port area development had beenappallingly slow. The road for investments is wide open and fresh interventions are required for Trincomalee, which has been identified by our Prime Minister who has initiated action to develop.
I am happy to note that some of the countries represented here have however recently shown keenness to engage in such activity. Any exercise to make Trincomalee the hub of the Indian Ocean will not cease with maritime activity, but also bring prosperity to the hinterland. It is now limited to wheat milling, cement production, petroleum product development, minor fishery developmentand tourist service delivery. There is expectation of joint development of balance oil tank farm with Indians, which if executed may make a visible impact in the Trincomalee business environment.
The Hambantota development plans now pursued mainly by the President and Prime Minister could be complemented by Trincomalee development actions. Both will compete to gain from the Bay of Bengal business environment. Therefore, I foresee integrated involvement with the President and Prime Minister’s planning would be more appropriate.
Trincomalee has vast extents of land in the hinterland available for development. It can stretch to Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Batticaloa Districts, if required. Quite recently when there were protests in Hambantota against alienation of land for Chinese investments, President Maithripala Sirisena offered land from Polonnaruwa, and I think it was not for humour, but a factual reality. I think if integrated farm product value addition is an investor’s choice with small farmer participation,the land and agriculture administrations could assist such efforts.
It is true that there had been previous efforts of coal power generation and industrial development zone proposalsby Indians and lately for coal power by the Japanese in Trincomalee District that did not take-off. I am personally aware that other priorities of state also contributed to this outcome.
The investors can commit with confidence due to the stable law and order status and the enthusiasm of the government for regional development. The law and order organisations have brought overall normalcy. Even in civilian security status the improvements are tremendous, as anyone who visited Trincomalee a few years back and now would sure to vouch. This improvement and predictability of security will attract investment. It is well orchestrated by the recent infrastructure development and business enhancement in the tourism sector. Free in/out movement of foreign and local tourists is evidence of such improvement which can be extended to other investment areas.
For the effects of endowed natural resources, the best examples are found in the clean sea coasts and blue seas, internationally marketable Pulmoddai mineral sands. It appears that integrating shipping of processed mineral sands in Pulmoddai has low priority now, regrettably leaving possibilities for untoward business deals, thus losing or misdirecting valuable foreign earnings. Potential small scale farmer development through integrated processing industrieslike milk or fish or paddy in the hinterland will cause value addition and enrichment of farmers.
Tourism business is established around Trincomalee and to the South, due to attractive natural resource endowment. The Batticaloa tourist area can be reached by road in less than one and half hours from Trincomalee, while travel time to Anuradhapura is less than two hours, thus making Trincomalee also a Tourist Hub. The untapped tourism potential is great.
I may mention a few: improvement of adventure sports centres, camping sites, introduction of cruise liners/ luxury vessels using Trincomalee Port, whale-watching, eco lodges, elephant safari in Trincomalee District and in Minneriya Habarana areas, house boats in the vast lagoon areas, home stay units, ayurvedic hotels, tourist bungalows, infrastructure for domestic tourism, organising travel agencies, establishment of tourist related training, etc. These do not require multi-billions and could be undertaken with very much less.
Of course, what we lack is efficient and organised port activities, air transport facilitation by domestic aviation industry focussing tourism, and higher level of technological inputs for integrated agriculture that would include livestock, fishery development and tourism. These are opportunities. I believe focus should not be limited to bringing such inputs, but developing technology by human resources enhancement, which can be an industry in itself, that can serve the Eastern Province and adjacent Provinces.
Since Bay of Bengal status is a concern to us I may first consider why maritime security governance is important to us. It is first because we are an island and as we have a fairly large maritime economic zone around us, integrating economic development with security.This zone is a prerequisite of development. It may be for fishing, other valuable minerals in the ocean, shipping lanes which serve the whole region.In addition,security actions in Indian Ocean by several –especially located in Bay of Bengal or distantly, are material for the protection of our sovereignty, for which there are many maritime law enforcement actions. I need not discuss them at this forum where naval experts are present. Stability of the country for economic development is influenced by such external inputs too.
Due to the economic and strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region it has become an area of geopolitical and geo-economics competition for major powers. If we look at this region’s long-term economic prospects, it is likely be driven by the ability of countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar to take advantage of the opportunities offered, especially by India and China.
As David Brewster has said: “A rising India is looking towards much greater economic interaction with its eastern neighbours. China is also aggressively pushing to create new connections between its landlocked southern provinces and the Indian Ocean. Indeed, we’re now witnessing a scramble by China, India and Japan to build ‘connectivity’ throughout the region, meaning tens of billions of dollars are being invested in new ports, roads, pipelines and railways. Some of those projects are intended to stitch the region together while others will better connect the region to the world.”
This is the predicted effect of Bay of Bengal regional economic behaviour. Therefore, any Bay of Bengal country attempting to gain by such is normal and appropriate and the interest taken by the government to develop Trincomaleecan be considered a great development initiative.
The connectivity factor between countries in the Region and ensuingeconomic development is the reason for the need for its advancement between such countries and their markets in the west. On the other hand, developing infrastructures to efficiently involve in energy trade also becomes important as development expands. This connectivity should be by sea or air and even by road, as observed in the context of the Chinese initiations. Sri Lanka being located strategically in the Bay of Bengal could play a vital role in enhancing connectivity.
The Trincomalee Port could be developed to support sea connectivity. But if development of the East is to be focussed it is necessary to develop domestic aviation facilities. The government has recently opened the Batticaloa Domestic Air Port and hope to expand its service, most likely to reinforce tourism developments.Taking the distance and time taken by foreigners to visit the East from Bandaranaike International Air Port, it will be essential to develop air travel for tourism, as much as sea transportation for trading.The latter will assist development decentralisation and sharing of development initiatives to an area that was neglected for long, and it will have positive political fallout too. However, it will click if tourism products with eastern Sri Lankan identity are introduced, because a foreign tourist will not visit the East if there is no novelty offered there.
We considered domestic airport development when I was Secretary Defence for tourism and other purposesat the beginning of the millennium, but did not move on. Even now it is worthwhile to consider development of Hingurakgoda Air Base bringing Polonnaruwa District too to the tourism loop and to develop connectivity from there to Trincomalee.Or, integrated expansion of Sri Lanka Air Force Base at China Bay could be the answer, which requires negotiation with the defence authorities.
In today’s strategic maritime context too, Trincomalee harbour would be ideal for functioning as a commercial hub and as a centre for a Regional Maritime Security Architecture focusing on Bay of Bengal.However, this issue is related to international power politics, Conventions and Treaties and Agreement reached between India and Sri Lanka between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President JR Jayewardenein 1987, and purportedly discussions held even quite recently.
Right now a Master Plan for developmentof Trincomalee is undertaken by Subarna Jong Ltd., basing on shipping, manufacturing and tourism. In fact, the Prime Minister along with officials from the Urban Development Authority, Regional Development Minister and the Navy Commander met a selected group of officials in Trincomalee to initiate action. The plan is said to cover transportation, infrastructure, environmental and implementation proposals. I think that Subarna Jong must have done a fair amount of work on this matter.I expect sharing your deliberations here would assist them for development planning.
In addition, there are written and unwritten practices that have affected our economy and security that is related to the sea around us. It is common to other Bay of Bengal countries too. On the other hand, it is material for maritime safety, disaster response and upgrading of marine environment protectionand resource management.
Learning from maritime regions is connected to marine scientific research and hydrographic surveys, which will be important material for present and future generations. I may quote the example of £8 million Monsoon Project by releasing under water robots in Bay of Bengal. The project aims to predict monsoon rainfall by studying ocean processes in the Bay of Bengal.The attention on research may be highlighted at this consultation for the sake of economic, political, security and futuristic humanitarian reasons.
Since this consultation focuses on economic and security activities, I believe it is important to be concerned with how to deal with issues that affect both these areas of operations. Why should not we be concerned when our President is reported to have said according to a Press Trust of India report that “he believed on the basis of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative will open up a new era for bilateral ties?” We should not forget that this was the stance taken by HE Mahinda Rajapaksa when he was the President.It is a positive status.
Security is an important prerequisite for economic development. Economic development and security cannot be divorced entities. We as a country according to economists and certain multilaterals have surpassed the threshold of a developing nation and are focussed through different criteria for international assistance. Yet, our economic development could be blurred if we are not alert to regional security and economic concerns, for which the Bay of Bengal area as a whole could be sometimes vulnerable. Experts here and from neighbouring countries will endorse this view, I am certain.
Therefore, we should be mindful of events that affect maritime security. This is why we are concerned of piracy. Terrorism, has had an impact on Sri Lanka since 1980s, and became a part of the global space too. For us it was through importation of arms, ammunition and all explosives that made Sri Lankans vulnerable.It had costus economically, politically, socially, historically, psychologically and in many other ways. Our experiences with maritime terrorism had affected our economy for decades and though we have essentially got over it by now, we cannot lie low or be lethargic.
Irrespectively, the most significant development of the last few decades was the explosive growth in global maritime trade as stated earlier, consequent to larger globalisation,technical and technological developments, enhanced international trading instruments and other mechanisms.We hear there are several in the pipeline with Singapore, India and China.
Increasing the importance of the seas is manifold. For example, China launched the MSRand the Belt and Road Initiative. Although China has long claimed that its interests in the Indian Ocean region are purely economic, it’s openly commented that the MSR could have a major impact on the strategic balance in the Bay.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2014 obtained the green light from Sri Lanka and Maldives for the MSR, enhancing competing influence in the region. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi considered launching a new initiative designed to compete with China’sMSR, known as Project Mausam. This shows the existence and importance of competing counter mechanisms at sea. It is the very reason that countries should use this dynamism for competition for the greater good rather than to be monopolistic for selfish gains. This could happen only by greater cooperation in the region. I believe this Consultation will approach this factor too.
These are major international issues. Next, coming to practical operations I want to be careful in usage of words when I mention what is called “illegal fishing” since there are different interpretations. For example, our Sri Lankan fishermen in the North and East and the South Indian fishermen do not see eye to eye on this issue. Our complaint had been that bottom trawling and other nasty systems destroy our ocean resources.Many dialogues we have had, i.e. political or occupational or diplomatic,had been photo opportunities than finalising a solution. They mostly culminated with blame games. Fishing issues could be similar with Chinese or any others’ fishing trawler operators, who may be exploiting valuable oceanic resources, sometimes by being bossy and rough!Of course, the reverse also is heard against our authorities. May be all these are conventional international behaviour games!
Another area had been drugsmuggling from various sources brought through normal ships, giving the impression that Sri Lanka is the “Asian Hub” for drug transfers. Though we may not be the worst in the region we possess a part of the human smuggling problem, which has affected distant countries like Australia.
Though oil spills are not the often heard issue in the media,marine pollution, unsafe/sub-standard shippingetc. have been concerns for us. Thinking of maritime natural hazards, though we are not that prone to cyclones or tsunamis, such events have not been sympathetic when we were hit as we saw in 1978 with a cyclone and in the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, which affected many others in the region.
Whether it is for economic viability or security concerns we have to be concerned of the existing political influences and realities. Though one may comment that we should not talk politics, I do not think we could divorce politics with maritime related development and security. Therefore, without harping on this very sensitive subject I may request the participants to be apolitical, as far as possible.
Towards positive result achievement we may have to find ways to supplement bilateralism with multilateral approach to development, security cooperation and diplomacy. These are not easy solutions due to internal and external biases and threats. Perhaps, intra-government/intra-national information sharing (intra- department, as well as government and private institutions), enhancement of Track 1 (State-State) intelligence-sharing, joint exercises (military-military relations), joint patrols etc. may assist. In addition, relations building between State with non-State actors, Track 2 (non-State with non-State) cooperation have to be developed.
For example,state-of-the-art scanners at ports could ensure safe/secure cargo passage with minimal delays at minimal cost. Thus, a shift from a current, as I see "defence community" to a projected "networked security community" may be the answer. Added inputs could be development of state-of-the-art ports to match future potential enhancement, as well threats that may emerge, infrastructure building, automation, worker re-training, cultural shift at strategic and operational management and worker levels, competitive tariffs, incentives, value-added services.
BeforeI conclude let me mention that my expressed views need not necessarily be that of Sri Lankan Governmentor any political authority.If there were similarities it is coincidence and if not everything is mine.However, I believe that these background scenarios may be of use to develop relations, institutions, and dynamic systems in maritime development and security status. If my presentation served your purposes, I am happy.
Thank you for the patient attention given to me.
