Foreign-educated students welcome to return - Prof G L Peiris

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris invited those innovative Sri Lankan students who had attended foreign universities and received their higher education, to return to the mother country to serve it.

The External Affairs Minister expressed those sentiments when he attended the Certificate and Award-giving ceremony of the Edexcel institute of London at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium as the Chief Guest recently.

Edexcel, which was formerly known as the University of London Examinations and assessment Council, is the largest awarding body in the UK of academic and vocational qualifications. Formed over 100 years ago by Royal Charter, Edexcel is respected across the globe as an advocate of quality educational standards. It is now part of the Pearson Group, the world’s largest educational services company.

Prof Peiris said Sri Lanka’s unique resource was its creative human element that’s packed with great innovative potential. At the present time when the country was ready to step forward after three decades of a conflict-ridden period, it was essential to draw upon this distinctive resource for the country’s development.

Sri Lanka had achieved an unprecedented annual economic growth rate of seven percent and been able to maintain a foreign exchange reserve of US$ 6,200 million. The number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka had increased tremendously while New York Times had described it as a desired tourist destination. As such, there was a need to expand the infrastructure and the services in the tourism sector to cater to the increased arrivals, he said.

The Minister pointed out that the International Monetary Fund had stated their satisfaction with the path that the economy had taken in Sri Lanka and this increased acceptance by the international investor community had resulted in several internationally-renowned financiers and business houses visiting Sri Lanka.

Recently the Chairman of the reputed Shangri La hotel Chain arrived here to explore the possibility of opening up a hotel in the country while Indian giants like Mahindra had made known their intentions to invest here. Prof Peiris also stated that it took long-time for the per capita income to reach US$ 1,000 whereas it’s more than doubled to 2,200 dollars in only three years.

All these factors indicated a successful future for Sri Lanka and thus it was necessary that the country should make use of the talents of those students who had received their higher education from the world’s best universities. Hence his invitation to them to return to Sri Lanka, the Minister said.

While pointing out that Sri Lanka supplied 80 percent of the world’s demand for cinnamon, the Minister said that a process of value-addition with regard to such spices as well as fruits, vegetables, gems, jewellery etc had been undertaken.

In addition new technological practices were to be introduced for the qualitative upgrading of natural products. He also said that efforts would be undertaken to tap the bountiful resources of the Eastern sea and the coast while new reforms in the education and health spheres would be embarked on with a view to streamline such services based on country’s needs. He also said that the Colombo Stock Exchange was performing in a highly satisfactory manner.

Among the others who addressed the gathering were Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Petroleum, Ms Jill Westaway, Director, British Council, Patrick Casey, International Director, Edexcel and Vivek Govil, Chief Executive Officer, Pearson India. The welcome speech and the vote of thanks were delivered by Ms Premila Paulraj, Manager, Tertiary Education and Kishore Roy, Examinations Manager of the Edexcel respectively. Awards and certificates were handed out by the two Ministers Prof G L Peiris and Susil Premajayantha and other guests.