Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga says it is not the policy of the government to sell national resources.
Speaking at an event organized to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Minister stated that bringing investments to the country does not mean selling national resources.
The event was held at Udugampola on January 23.
He confirmed that the current Government will not back down the mandate given to it through the last presidential and parliamentary elections and therefore neither the President nor the Prime Minister would take a decision against the mandate.
Minister further explained:
“Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the party we created, has now become a significant political party in Asia owing to the dedication of the people of this country. We gave Rs. 5,000 for Covid-affected people, recruited 59,000 graduates for Government employment, and launched a program to provide employment for 100,000 individuals of low-income families who failed the GCE Ordinary Level examination.
As the tourism minister of Sri Lanka, I have taken up the duty to bring tourists to Sri Lanka. Even though the opposition criticized the Government for not bringing foreign workers, by now we have brought more than 70,000 foreign workers.
There are nearly 30 lakhs of employees connected to the tourism industry directly and indirectly and they had no income for 10 months. Hence, both the President and Prime Minister with the consultation of the health officials formulated a program to attract tourists to the country. Evidently, the revamp of the tourist industry affects the entire country. 164 foreigners have applied for visas to travel to Sri Lanka in the first 24 hours after reopening the country.
Even though many are criticizing the government regarding the East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port, both the President and the Prime Minister have firmly asserted that the government is currently looking for investors and the nation’s resources will not be given to foreign entities.”
MP Pradeep Undugoda and Chairman of Minuwangoda Pradeshiya Sabha, Kumara Arangalla were also present on this occasion.
