IN FOCUS
AUSTIN OUTLINES TOURISM’S
RESILIENCE AND RESOLVE
POST-EASTER ATTACKS
Following is the address by High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in India Austin Fernando at the PHD Chamber of
Commerce and Industry interactive meeting titled ‘Strengthening of Ties with Sri Lanka’ on 3 May at the PHD
Chamber Auditorium, New Delhi
• Asserts we cannot remain fearful as tourism is a mainstay of our economy
• Says message we send to the world should be one of resilience
• Notes we had to pay a big price on 21 April, calls for a swift return to 20 April status quo
A
t the outset, may I thank the PHD Chamber of
Commerce and Industry for inviting me to make a
presentation on ‘Strengthening Ties with Sri Lanka’?
Your organisation being a business-oriented think tank, you
would have expected the delivery of a technical presentation
from me. In fact, when Ambassador Krishna Rajan met me
and discussed the preliminaries, I requested my Commercial
Offi cer Upekkha Samaratunga to brief me to provide data to
satisfy Ambassador Rajan’s intentions.
However, the episode on 21 April in Sri Lanka made me
rethink. I thought that I should focus on a sector of extreme
importance to me, to Sri Lankan and Indian businesses and
economic interlocutors like your members. That is ‘tourism’.
Nonetheless, I will briefl y touch upon other areas or sectors.
Strengthening ties with Sri Lanka can be viewed at and
perceived in several areas. Our ties are historically old. The
components of our ties have integrated into our daily lives,
through culture, religions, security, and economic concerns of
both countries. The foreign relations of both countries have in
very recent times reached upgraded proximity, after a limited
engagement for a few years just before. Ambassador Yash
Sinha is my witness to endorse this statement. Even during
that era, there had been ad hoc institutional mechanisms that
proved to be pacifying. By the current deliberations, I believe
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 4 • April-May 2019, Noida • 65