"Sri Lanka has the potential for being a strong regional hub for services and the private and public sectors will have to galvanise into action. Singapore is where it is today and they started from nothing but Sri Lanka is rich in resources," Dr. K. Govindan, Deputy Director General of the Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia said addressing the inaugural session of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit last Tuesday.

Dr. Govindan said in the ‘50s and ‘60s Malaysians and Singaporeans grew learning from their schools that Sri Lanka was one of the countries with a high per capita income, where tourism flourished in an island paradise and its people had a strong command of the English Language.

But today, Malaysia and Singapore have surpassed Sri Lanka and Dr. Govindan said poverty in these two countries is virtually eradicated.

"Sri Lanka stopped in its track but it still maintained on average a five percent GDP growth during the last 20 years. Its literacy rate of 95 percent is astronomical. Its poverty rate of 15 percent is low and the World Bank has used Sri Lanka as a case study to show how effective state-sponsored healthcare can be," Dr. Govindan said.

He shared a few points which helped Malaysia to grow to where it is today.

Malaysia’s leaders paid attention to long term plans.

"They were interested in the welfare of the country and not who would be in power. They were not concerned about the next year or where the country would be in ten years time. They planned and executed policies for what they wanted the country to achieve in 30 years time," Dr. Govindan said.

"The private sector was put on a pedestal. It took a while to convince public officials that it was the private sector that drove the economy," he said.

In this regard, Malaysia took steps to remove its ‘complex nightmare’ of rules and regulations, making things more simplified instead.

"If things take an inordinate time to happen then it leaves room for corruption," Dr. Govindan said.

Building a strong capable public sector was also important. It was seen to that remunerations and other facilities were of the highest standards in Malaysia.

"Why should public officials get paid more than there private sector counterparts, after all, they bare a bigger responsibility to the entire nation," Dr. Govindan said.

"However, this should be accompanied by Key Performance Indicators. In Malaysia, the prime minister and other ministers are required to be subject to a key performance indicator every six months," he said.

Dr. Govindan said the public sector cannot be left to make key decisions where timeliness was required.

"Malaysia has a high powered minister chairing a committee comprising select ministers to make crucial decisions. This is because you cannot depend too much on government machinery," he said.

Dr. Govindan said Sri Lanka should pay more attention in developing its manufacturing sector, where agriculture would take a ‘down stream’ path. But Sri Lanka’s real strength lies in its services sector.

"In tourism for example, 20 million people visit Malaysia each year to see nothing where as Sri Lanka has all the natural resources," he said.