What kind of an economic toll has the ethnic conflict taken on the country?
We have been annually spending more than $1 billion, which has really hurt the economy. Even if we save 25 per cent of that, just $ 200 to $ 300 million, that can go into the development of infrastructure. This is a small country, and unlike India, we don’t need billions of dollars to make a difference. You mentioned IT as a new sector, what kind of opportunities exists in IT? In comparison to India, IT has had a slow take off here but in the last year or so there has been a growth where Sri Lankan companies have started doing software development overseas like Indian companies. Of course we don’t have an Infosys or Wipro but we are growing and today we have quite a few Indian training institutes here; NIIT, Aptech, SSI, and others. They are doing a good service to the people here and in the future this will be a good growth sector for Sri Lanka. Are you looking for partnerships with India in IT? Of course, the Board of Investment mission had been in Bangalore last fortnight, trying to
