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New chapter in US-Lanka ties

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's current U.S. visit highlights the need for strong US-Lanka relations for this country's economic betterment as well as for the consolidation of the peace initiative which is continuing to hold in Sri Lanka. That the US is fully supportive of Sri Lanka in both the economic and political spheres is evidenced by the fact that this is the first occasion a Lankan political leader has been granted an audience with the US President since the late President J.R. Jayewardene's visit to the US in the mid-Eighties. This amounts to a strong US vote of confidence in the current Lankan administration.

The US has, of course, been one of our leading trading partners but for years there has been no top level consultations between the US Trade Representative, for instance, and the political leaders of this country until the present visit by the Lankan Prime Minister. On Monday the Lankan Premier met US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, among other top Bush administration officials, in what could be described as ground-breaking efforts to forge closer US-Lanka economic relations.

The high point of Premier Wickremesinghe's visit was, of course, his meeting with US President George Bush on Wednesday, which helped to open a new chapter in US-Lanka ties. That economic ties have been very much in focus during the Premier's US visit is quite obvious but what gives added significance to this important diplomatic initiative by the Lankan leader is the Sri Lankan peace process which the US fully backs. In fact, a resolution has been moved in the US Senate which expresses firm backing for the peace initiative.

It is in the fitness of things that support is being canvassed in the US for the peace effort while close economic links are being forged between the countries because it is brighter economic prospects for everyone in Lanka which would help in bolstering the peace process. More livelihoods and a more equitable distribution of economic opportunities right throughout Sri Lanka would convince even the most destructive critics of the peace process of the need to see an end to war and bloodshed. The Lankan Premier is, therefore, acting with deep foresight by working on both fronts - the economic and the political.

Getting more US Direct Foreign Investment into Sri Lanka at this juncture when a Free Trade Agreement is in force between India and Sri Lanka, could yield some dividends because Lanka could act as a gateway to India for US investors. The vast consumer market in India could be penetrated with Lanka as a base. However, Sri Lanka also needs to look closely into the possibility getting more of its exports into US markets.

We hope the US would prove receptive to this Lankan need. The guiding principle in these negotiations should be mutual economic advantage. A need of the hour is diversified export markets in the US and this should weigh heavily with Lankan trade officials in their talks with their US counterparts.

All this and more bilateral economic plans could be realised only if peace is established in Sri Lanka. As Premier Wickremesinghe himself mentioned in a press interview in the US, the people's peace hopes are soaring far ahead of those of the Government, the LTTE and other political forces. This may account for the belief in some quarters that the peace process has entered a slump. Needless to say, more dynamism needs to be injected into the peace effort and we hope this would happen sooner rather than later because economic advancement is unthinkable without peace and stability.

However, it is timely, while advancing the peace process, to drum-up support among the big powers of the West for it because there has never been a more widespread international consensus against the exercise of terror for political ends. The US is in the forefront of this campaign and much will depend on how much of its weight the US would throw behind the Lankan Government.

Such support, however, couldn't be taken for granted. A just political solution which would ensure equal status for all communities in Sri Lanka, would be welcomed by the world community. This is the essential precondition for continued Western support for the peace process here.

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