Sri Lanka should redesign its foreign policy: Bogollagama

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

Sri Lanka will have to reposition itself in today’s context by engaging with the West, asserted former Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, adding that the country will have to find a way through to Washington if the need arises.

“My treatment for US-Sri Lanka relationship is to directly engage with Washington. We don’t need third party relationships when it comes to building a relationship between the two countries,” asserted Bogollagama at a luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club West on Wednesday.

Stating that the country’s foreign policy should be redesigned, he said the priority should be given to bring onboard what is important to the country.

Highlighting BRICS, a union that consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as a potential new development to the world, Bogollagama said that Sri Lanka should aim to get those countries to stand on its side as together theycomprises 46% of the world population and will hold 30% of the economy in the future.

“This is where strategic alliance is important,” he stated, pointing that although the nation is a member of SAARC, Sri Lanka does not have united action within its context.

Speaking on Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, he expressed that the country’s policy probably hasn’t changed since independence. “We are known as a country that is a friend to all and has no enemies. Sri Lanka has to position itself within this framework,” Bogollagama said.

Noting that the fundamental positioning of the country is not difficult, he said that the profile of Sri Lanka is known as a democratic country, a developing economy and a nation that has defeated terrorism.

Bogollagama stated: “With this profile, I believe Sri Lanka wanted to ease the level of policy but not the level of engagement. However the policy framework is coming to greater tests in terms of engagement.”

He explained that countries engage in three folds. While some countries engage in the most visible manner with one another, some do so in an invisible manner.

He pointed to a third tier of engagement: Coordinated relationships. “Sri Lanka must consider these three folds when constructing a foreign policy framework,” he opined.

Bogollagama stressed that the nation is looked at by the world as one that is not adequately responding to its own agenda which had been created in the process of reconciliation and accountability. “This is the challenge that we should overcome and this is where the foreign policy should be measured,” he noted.

Commenting on the status in relation to the United Nations through Geneva, he stressed the need to have an action plan in place to address this.

“We should make it possible to bring Sri Lanka’s attention against outside interest and to corner whatever administration comes into office in terms of extremist, separatist movements,” Bogollagama stated, adding that these are the fundamentals that double when dealing with international affairs.

“We have to remember that although Sri Lanka has a tendency of forgetting what it says, the international community is well-structured to remember what we state. Whatever we say is registered and they will be after us and that is where our commitments and honour to our words have to be retained as a country.”

Bogollagama concluded by saying that Sri Lanka has enough opportunity to get to the world stage to position itself in line with advancing as a developed country in South Asia and beyond.