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Following the success of several previous interactive evenings organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, another such interactive session was organized recently at the Taj Samudra Hotel .
This interactive evening meeting included an address by Robert Blake, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka & the Maldives, who spoke on ‘The new US Policy – with special reference to the Economic Consequences of the new policy relevant to India & Sri Lanka’.
The Ambassador commenced his presentation by indicating that since the US President Barack Obama had now completed 100 days in office it was important to take stock of what had been achieved to date, what major policy action had been taken and what the agenda for the future would be.
Speaking about the economic consequences of the new policy relevant to South Asia and Sri Lanka, the Ambassador indicated that the challenges faced by the countries at present were global in nature and therefore, no country was immune to these challenges. The Ambassador elaborated on two of the biggest challenges faced by countries at present which were violent extremism and the global economic crisis.
He indicated that many countries in the world including Sri Lanka were affected by violent extremism. Terrorism as well as the way countries respond to the threat of terrorism has also become globalized. It was therefore, necessary to come up with new strategies to deal with these threats and to deal with the causes that lead to violent extremism.
Elaborating on the current global economic crisis, the Ambassador highlighted that it was affecting all countries in the world today as they were all economically inter-connected. At the recently concluded G20 Summit too, a global approach to deal with the crisis had been discussed and a pledge made to discourage trade protectionism. The USA has moved towards preventing a further downturn by introducing a stimulus package to lay the groundwork for sustained economic growth. However, it was important not to over-regulate the private sector and to create synergies with private-public partnerships.
