Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene on Thursday urged newly appointed overseas envoys to work mainly on economic diplomacy with related partners in the countries to which they are posted.
“The focus should be on economic diplomacy as the country needs the cooperation of other nations for rapid economic progress”, he told the fresh appointees at a pre-departure briefing in the Commercial capital of Colombo this week.
“Our focus is to increase trade and investments. While engaging with host governments and premier business houses, leading investors and chambers of commerce and industry, you have to promote Sri Lanka as an attractive destination, not merely as a tourist hot spot but mainly as a place suitable for investment and trade.
“Sri Lanka can rapidly grow its own economy by closely engaging with other nations. It is also a pragmatic response to the shift in the world economy towards Asia, particularly the economic rise of China, India, and ASEAN,” he said.
The Prime Minister advised new envoys to interact with Sri Lankan expatriate organisations in host countries and important friends of the island nation in those countries to build a new network to promote bilateral ties.
He spoke on the urgent need for strengthening ties with the Spanish speaking world, especially Latin American countries through accredited ambassadors.
The Sri Lankan foreign service has repeatedly come under serious accusations by the opposition and others across the board of being a mere ‘white elephant’ with more political appointees given top posts while career diplomats are left in limbo.
