Moderator: Just settle down here. I do want to go through the stage and get their reaction to what's going on in terms of the geopolitical complexity. And I do want to start with the Minister of Sri Lanka first.
When we go back to the April 2nd Rose Garden tariff negotiation announcements, was that a new wake-up call? Or is this something that has been brewing, somehow challenging the Asian economic model of manufacturing here and exporting to the United States?
Minister Handunnetti: Yes, thank you very much. To all the panelists and all participants here, I am very thankful because this is a great opportunity for us, representing a beautiful island country like Sri Lanka, as I am participating in this forum for the first time.
I want to say one thing, about this topic, 'Is Asia at risk in this century?' I think this is Asia's century.
The reason for that is, now every emerging country like China, Vietnam, India, and Japan is here. Sri Lanka is not a big country, it's a small country. But we are with all the other big economies and countries, under their cooperation and assistance. I am especially very thankful to the People's Republic of China. We are in cooperation with the BRI, our port city, our ports, and everything is now happening with China's contribution.
The other matter is, we must identify several factors that could hinder or delay the full realization of what is happening in the Asian region. Especially the economic slowdowns in our countries. The other thing is geopolitical risks and demographic challenges, environmental threats, and internal political dynamics. All these things are suppressing our capabilities.
For example, an economic slowdown means, we have found that in this era, economically, there are many opportunities for us, like all our countries. But these several internal disputes and external issues suppress our capability, our strength. In our countries, geopolitical risks, especially with the ongoing war, delay our success. Especially between China, India, Pakistan, and India, there were some issues, and regional conflicts, these tensions in the South China Sea should be resolved. The other matter is demographic challenges; an aging population is a big risk for Asian countries. Not only Sri Lanka...
Moderator: Yes. And I just wanted to get your thoughts on, does this somehow bring Asian countries in the region a little closer together? Because there has been a lot of talk about a new form of globalization. Sure, Asia has benefited from globalization for decades now. The model that has greatly benefited the region, is that being challenged? I think that is really the question. And perhaps you can pick up on that angle as well, Sarah. How does Indonesia fit into this new world order that we're thinking about and spending time talking about here?
Minister Handunnetti: (Responding to the moderator) Yes, I think you can... We will definitely come back to the minister, don't worry about it. Indonesia as an example...
Moderator: Thank you so much. And it's such an honor...
(The moderator continues speaking)
Moderator: ...we spent a lot of time talking about fragmented manufacturing and tariff negotiations, and I'm sure many of you spent a lot of time talking about technology and what that does to the future of the Asian region and so on. But I do want to bring in a different angle here, and that is soft power.
Minister Handunnetti, given the cultural heritage that Sri Lanka has, and I come from actually the world of K-pop, so very proud of that as well. But just walk us through what you think in terms of the importance of soft power. Because that could actually bring in a different level of understanding between different countries and different regions as well. And Asia is an emerging star in all this.
Minister Handunnetti: Yes, but there is a problem. I want to raise this. All four of our countries have the potential for tourism. Sri Lanka is also one of the best tourist destinations. Not only that, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, even China. The potential of all our countries is tourism. We are in the heart of the Indian Ocean, in the center. Sri Lanka, a beautiful country. But for the past few decades, there have been many problems and issues regarding drugs, human trafficking. All of this has become a problem for tourism.
We are now facing problems, like that. Not just for distribution through the Indian Ocean, but for other areas too. Now we need to have cooperation with all our countries to overcome these difficulties. All our countries are very beautiful countries. Because it's not like comparing with other regions of the world, we have a natural potential. Not only Sri Lanka, but India, other countries. But the problem is, the other matter is the migration of our workforce, the mobility. From Asia to other regions.
We have a free education system. In Sri Lanka, there is a completely free education system, from the primary level up to graduation. But we are producing, we are manufacturing skilled labor, highly skilled laborers, but they are moving from our countries to Europe, to the West. We want to get the potential, the benefit from our young generation..
As I mentioned earlier, the aging population is high in our countries, but there are no opportunities for the youth, for the younger generation. With this new era, yesterday the Chinese delegation said it very clearly, AI-lization. This era is the AI-lization era of our region, the Asian region. Now this AI technology, digitalization is the main task of our countries. In Sri Lanka as well.
With these potentials, if we really identify them, with our people, the people will benefit. I want to say this, the new government in Sri Lanka with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, we have now appointed only 21 cabinet ministers. We are now in a government free from all corruption. Sri Lanka is now a corruption-free country. I can now give an assurance to all investors, please come to Sri Lanka, there is potential for investment, free of corruption.
For the past four, three decades, we have faced many problems with corruption, allegations, and the other thing is things like that, drugs, and human problems... these are not natural problems. In Indonesia and in my country, we faced the tsunami. But these are not natural disasters, these are man-made disasters, man-created disasters. But we want to overcome these difficulties. If we have the ability to honestly overcome these disasters, these threats, we are the region of the next century. I can assure that.
