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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rocat90" data-source="post: 19928990" data-attributes="member: 452168">Can we go on like this?     For how long can we as a country continue this way? Not for long. Sri  Lanka must find a way to earn its own dollars to, at the very least,  repay the principal and interest payments that are falling due on the  gigantic loans taken by Rajapaksa for projects that bear his name but  have no revenue streams.      The Government must reverse the direction of Sri Lanka’s exports to GDP  ratio. It must export a lot more than it is doing now. Particularly  with the stagnant remittances from the middle East, which could start to  decline, sent by the million or so workers who suffer untold misery to  do so, the challenge becomes even tougher.     A fact that is stubborn but is very revealing is that during  Rajapaksa’s regime exports to GDP ratio fell from 34% to 14.5%. Just  this figure will help the unbiased reader understand the present  Government’s predicament. It inherited an economy that was in massive  difficulty on the external front but window dressed by certain creative  accountants to deceive the people.            Way forward is to integrate Sri Lanka with the rest of the world     In my role as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs I am doing my best  to push the agenda of economic diplomacy forward so that we can change  directions of the exports to GDP ratio. To export more we need to bring  in those who can invest in Hambantota and other areas of Sri Lanka.     To get FDI the investors need to see a potential export market. Given  ours is a small 20 million lower middle income economy, it is imperative  we expand our reach to the region. We must be able to tap in to the  emerging South Asian middle class in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as  well as in Central Europe. From the early days it was during the times  that we as a nation was integrated with the world that we prospered.      The challenge for us is to once again make Sri Lanka a hub. This time  the hub of the ‘Asian oceans’, like the Prime Minister has already said.  There are many who are attempting to derail this Government’s economic  plan by blocking the initiatives to integrate Sri Lanka with the rest of  the world. But I am convinced this Government will succeed in this  endeavour.           (The writer is Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.)</blockquote>

Verification: Haya warak paha keeyada? (haya wadi kireema paha)

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