Government ready to convert plans into action - Cabraal

BY CHANNA Kasturisinghe

ALL the Ministries are expected to finalise their plans to achieve the development goals stipulated in the Mahinda Chinthana within the next few days and would start implementing them soon.

The Economic Advisor to the President and the Secretary of the Plan Implementation Ministry Ajith Nivard Cabraal told the Daily News that the Cabinet has already given direction to all the ministers to submit plans and all the Ministries are working on the plans for this year and the next few years to come.

"The major step of translating Mahinda Chinthana into a workable plan was carried out through the budget which was presented to the Parliament in November. The next step would be to ensure the methodical implementation of the plans given out in the Mahinda Chinthana Manifesto. We have wasted no time in doing so," Cabraal said.

Commenting about attracting more foreign investments, Cabraal said that the Government has taken an important decision to set up an inter-ministerial sub committee to facilitate foreign and local investments.

"We expect that there would be several bottlenecks on our way to increase investments which is crucial as far as development is concerned. These bottlenecks could arise as a result of lack of proper coordination among the various ministries and stakeholders.

Therefore, we consider that it is important to have a powerful forum to deal with issues confronted by investors and others," Cabraal said.

He said the President's recent visit to India had been very effective and fruitful in attracting Indian investments.

"When it comes to foreign investments India can play a big role in investing in Sri Lanka. Following the President's visit we have been able to establish close contacts with Indian business community, professionals and authorities.

The President could have a close interaction with the key figures of the Indian private sector. The industry leaders representing important sectors such as leisure, agri business, light industry and infrastructure development were keen to establish contacts with us and set up business here.

The positive results of this meeting will be seen over the next few months. We will also assist the Sri Lankan private sector to strengthen their ties with their Indian counterparts.

We saw in India two leading commerce chambers of the two countries signing a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their ties. We expect more such MoUs would follow in the future," Cabraal said.

Commenting on the challenges the country's apparel sector could face following the phase out of the Multi-Fibre Agreement he said the apparel cluster and the Government is working together to deal with the challenges.