“We are eagerly waiting for the diaspora to come to Sri Lanka to invest and develop our country. Most of the businesses in Kilinochchi belong to the diaspora. We are inviting and appealing to the diaspora to come here. The land issues here have been resolved, and now Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe has created an environment where the ethnic issues of the country will disappear.
Now is the time for us to come together for the country. It is time to put aside races, religions, castes, and parties. It’s time to build the country. Therefore, we invite everyone to come together with Sri Lanka and build our country together.”
Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said this while addressing the ‘Smart Youth Club’ assembly, a second-day program of the ‘Kilinochchi – Jayagamu Sri Lanka’ district mobile program today (13).
The minister said that when the country faced economic challenges, the foreign workers who sent $12 billion to the country greatly contributed. He also mentioned that the president has given initial permission to international businessman Elon Musk to start business in Sri Lanka.
“The people of this country should go abroad, earn money, gain experience and knowledge, and become good entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. You don’t have to stay in the country all the time. Today, we have brought good news that the provincial office of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau will be opened, providing all necessary services for those who want to go abroad. No matter where we live in the world, we don’t have the freedom, recognition, and respect that we have in our country.
Thirty years ago, your brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers suffered a lot without fuel, lights, and food. They learned by hearing the sound of bombs. Mothers protected you by making you sleep inside barrels. A poet from the south has written a poem asking you, who have studied inside the barrel and built your lives with difficulty, to get the highest marks and come to the universities in the south.
However, people in our provinces could not live without oil, electricity, and medicine for several months. At that time, our main problem was the dollar shortage, and our expatriate workers and diaspora were invited to send dollars, with concessions given at that time. Our expatriate workers responded and sent us $12 billion. The young generation should be investors to develop the country.
We need a young generation who always thinks positively without getting caught up in the negativity of certain political leaders. When Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe first accepted the challenges, everyone said ‘and now give me too’.
We lost our pre-1948 right to share our ideas. In 1956, the north and the south were not allowed to cross, and walls were built, making Sinhala the official language. The Jaffna library was set on fire. Muslims were marginalized separately. By doing that, the north and the south were separated. Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe is bringing Elon Musk to Sri Lanka without being afraid of politicians saying that he is an economic killer. He has been invited to start business in Sri Lanka and has been given initial permission to operate ‘SpaceX’.
Everyone knows that there is no stadium like Colombo’s R. Premadasa in Jaffna. Asking ‘Isn’t there such a thing’ is to incite racism by suggesting the North has been neglected, creating hatred. When the country is being built, they are doing that to spoil people’s minds again. Some people ask if 2048 is a developed country. We don’t know who will be there then. These decisions are made so that the next generation benefits. Otherwise, the world will never improve,” said the minister.
