President Mahinda Rajapaksa says defeating LTTE militarily five years ago has paved way for a new security environment in the SAARC region.
pic via: facebook.com/PresidentRajapaksa
Addressing the 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu yesterday (November 26), the President said terrorism still remained a fundamental security challenge both regionally and internationally and Sri Lanka could not remain complacent in maintaining safeguards against its possible resurgence.”
“We owe it to ourselves and our peoples to ensure that the radical views of a few and misplaced agendas of some others do not undermine the security and well-being of the large majority of peace loving people, firstly, in the member states and then, in the region as a whole.
President Rajapaksa said South Asia’s intellectual and spiritual heritage was unparalleled in many ways. “The edicts of our fore-fathers established value systems, and principles of governance similar to contemporary human rights framework. Human Rights should be recognized by all as a moral and ethical concept rather than as a political tool.”
“Sadly however, we are witnessing motivated political agendas being thrust by extra regional entities, on some countries in our region, in the guise of human rights. Intervention in such form is being attempted with scant regard to the structures, and cultural traditions of societies, and ground realities.
While SAARC practice has been to abstain from involvement in bilateral issues of a political nature, we must resist external manipulations. It would be morally in keeping with the SAARC spirit, to join forces against external threats on Member States.
The President emphasized the imperative need for SAARC to move towards implementing result-oriented, actionable plans, which impact directly on the lives of the people.
He said that having evolved in structure, form and content, through almost three decades, SAARC is at a crucial juncture and now there is a need to shift from the present traditional approach and move towards implementing result-oriented, actionable plans, which impact directly on the lives of our peoples.
“South Asia is characterized by diverse cultures, ethnic groups, religions and languages, but we are bound by values of unity and tolerance. SAARC’s strength is in our diversity and harmonious co-existence.
“The regions’ robust 6% average growth of the last 6 years translated into some impressive improvements in human development. The implementation in Sri Lanka of the national development strategy contained in the Mahinda Chintana – Vision for the future, focused on inclusive, rural-centric developmental initiatives.
“Sri Lanka’s economy has recorded a stable growth of around 7.8% over the last few years, also achieving a low poverty level of 6.5%. South Asia, with a population of over 1.6 billion people, still has 24.5% of its population, living in poverty, and we cannot remain satisfied. SAARC needs to firmly address issues of poverty and exclusion, increasing disparities between the rich and poor, rural and urban communities.
“Through some countries, our region has acquired excellence in the area of space technology. This advancement has captured the interests of our peoples. The initiative of Prime Minister Modi to develop and launch a Satellite dedicated to SAARC is a welcome initiative. Application of this technology to the areas including communication, distance education and disaster management, the socio economic development in the region would be greatly benefitted,” the President said.
Courtesy:The Island