Government’s Objective Is To Get To The Truth – Navin Dissanayake

by  Ifham Nizam

The following are excerpts of the interview:

Q:  What’s your opinion on the international participation in the war crimes probe here in Sri Lanka?

A: The UNHRC,in which Sri Lanka is a member, has passed a resolution. We as co-partners have an investigative mechanism to find what happened in the final stages of the war.

Our government has made a policy decision to work alongside the international community rather than being intransigent like the previous regime. Hence Sri Lanka is still bound by the UNHCR resolution that was adapted last year.

 

Q: the government is of the view that the problem should be tackled by locals and not by foreigners. What is your view in this regard?

A: We feel that we have the competence and the credibility with local personnel to carry out any investigation. The objective of the government is to get to the truth and not to suppress things like the earlier government. We are an independent and sovereign nation and other nations have to respect that. I think this issue could be easily resolved by having two Commonwealth judges as observers to ensure that a transparent process is taking place.

 

Q:  You are vastly experienced as a lawyer when it comes to Human Rights and related issues. Have you put that into good use especially with the present government?

A: No my legal skills are not adequately put to use at present. Cabinet ministers have compartmentalized roles and I am sure there are competent people in the Foreign Ministry and the Attorney General’s office.

 

Q:  Recently a government appointed judge alleged that the Army had committed war crimes. What’s the outcome of it? Did the government investigate further in this regard?

A: I am not aware of this judge or his comments. As such, I cannot comment on it.

 

Q: President Sirisena is keen on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and on further investigations. Has the government progressed in this regard?

A: Yes there is much progress as was stated by the Commissioner of the UNHRC Prince Zeid. The best approach is to work in partnership with our international friends.

 

Q: Will there be any attempt for foreign inquiries?

A: There might be, but I think the government has enough finesses and diplomatic skill to avert it.

 

Q: In your opinion, what’s the best way to strengthen the report?

A: The best way is to strongly put the view of the Sri Lankan government that we were fighting a terrorist organization that was destroying the future of our country.

 

Q: When it comes to your Plantations and Industries Ministry, there were a number of issues and initiatves. What is the government’s position on liberalizing tea imports for blending and re-export as demanded by some tea exporters?

A: I meant specifically about creating a tea hub. It’s a controversial subject. Some exporters and traders want to blend tea. The proposal to blend imported tea in Sri Lanka has a lot of attractive pluses, while there are also negatives.

The first negative factor is how it will affect the overall price that we get at the international market if the hub for blending is allowed. If it affects the price of USD 4 a kilo we get at present, then producers will be affected.

We do not want a downward movement in prices. Therefore, the argument is between high quality tea getting USD 4 and increasing the amount of, not the tea that is produced, and tea exported from Sri Lanka by blending (about 500 million kg).

If that reduces the price to about two dollars like in Kenya, then the producers won’t be able to sustain them and move forward because their cost of production is very high and the whole industry might crash.

I don’t want to take any risk. But I will closely study this. Earlier when the word blending was mentioned, it was thrown out – but under our government – the concept of a tea hub – and the concept of blending is very much on the table. If I can bring in safeguards to reduce risks to make sure everybody is happy with it, then I can certainly implement it.

For example, if you want to set up a hub, it will have to be somewhere near the Colombo or the Hambantota port We should ensure that the tea doesn’t go out and blended tea does not enter our markets. The whole idea of blending has to be properly monitored and regulated. There should be a mechanism to monitor before you allow anything to happen. However much policing we do, if peoples’ intention is bad they can always smuggle the tea out to the market.

We do not want that kind of situation. If we are going to pitch Sri Lanka tea at a different level, then I think we should study the global beverage market; the new generation is more into iced, health conscious and flavoured teas.

We are a bulk exporter. That status is being threatened, so we have to adapt and change to suit market conditions. If we don’t do that then we will be unable to sustain ourselves.

 

Q: Sri Lanka is one of the largest tea exporters and Colombo was once the world’s biggest tea auction centre. Today Dubai, which does not grow tea, is the largest tea trading hub in the world. Should Sri Lanka try to be a hub like Dubai and how?

A: Dubai is a tea hub -so are London and Frankfurt. What they do is to bring different teas, blend and market it effectively. But what our producers say is if we allow that to happen in Sri Lanka, our own flavours and prices will get affected badly.

They do not want that to happen. If we were not a tea producing country then blending could have been done here as we are ideally located to be a hub. But as a producer we have our concerns as well.

On the other hand, if the whole industry – the exporters, traders, plantation companies and tea smallholders – come together and express their willingness, I can do it. But as of now there is no uniformity; there is no clear thinking on the proposal. We need uniform policies. We, the government, are the regulator and the implementer of policies. At present, the Tea Board is engaging with all the stakeholders and from the reports I get the stakeholders are happy with what the Tea Board is doing. But ‘the tea hub concept’ is such a controversial subject we can’t take any sides.

 

Q: What is the current status of the talks on a new collective wage agreement with the trade unions? Are unions agreeable to an out-grower, revenue-sharing model as proposed by regional plantations companies (RPCs)? When will it be implemented?

A:  The discussions are handled by Minister John Seneviratne. We have also given our observations that there has to be a reasonable wage increase given to plantation workers. There should be some kind of resolution very soon.

Meanwhile, RPCs want the next collective agreement to be based on productivity which is what I think we need. I am happy to note that I have initiated discussions with the RPCs and the trade unions to have a new out grower model – so that the plantation workers can be given legal rights over the land – the land will belong to them, and they will pluck more tea.

I personally think the current model we have for plantation companies is very outdated and we must have a new model in place very soon.

 

Q: Should regional plantations companies do more direct sales, bypassing the Colombo auctions?

A: RPCs should do more sales. When I was the Deputy Minister we allowed it. But the auction system works well. There is no reason to subvert the auction. Yet, if you get a good buyer they should do it.

Q: What about the other crops? What plans do you have for developing other sectors?

A: The coconut industry is doing well – there’s a lot of potential for developing this sector – 80% of the coconut we produce are consumed within Sri Lanka and only a 20% is exported or goes through a value-addition process.

We must increase our coconut production and export more – or get our local consumers to save coconuts for exports. We need to look at new areas within the industry and attract more investments.

 

Q: The benefits of research and development in all plantation sectors are quite limited. How could we get the private sector to get involved in R and D and make the agriculture sectors more commercialized?

A: I have four research institutes under my ministry – Coconut Research Institute, Rubber Research Institute, Tea Research Institute and the Sugar Research Institute. I fully agree that we have constraints in developing R and D as we are under-funded. We have budgetary constraints. I have presented a Cabinet paper to get foreign assistance to upgrade facilities, to look after our scientists.

They sacrifice a lot by contributing to the industry’s growth. But they need a lot of support. The private sector is willing to contribute and develop the industries.

They should play a more vibrant role in society, supporting science and technology to grow. Sugar plantations are not under this ministry now although the Sugar Research Institute is under my purview. It is a peculiar situation. I have spoken to the Prime Minister to give at least one sugar plantation so that I can do more work.

Q: The first phase of the Coconut Triangle planned to be established in the North and East was launched by your ministry earlier this week. Under the special coconut cultivation programme in collaboration with the Northern Provincial Council over 18,500 acres of coconut land in the North will be rehabilitated and 25,400 acres will come under the new coconut plantation.The total investment budgeted for the Northern Coconut Triangle is Rs. 3,300 million in which the treasury will be providing Rs. 650 million and the balance Rs. 2,650 million as foreign investments. In a bid to increase coconut cultivation, the Plantation Industries Ministry had earlier disclosed that over to 80,000 acres will be brought under coconut cultivation in the North East.

A: The government wanted to develop the North and East in rapid speed. That was one of the main reasons to establish the second Coconut Triangle of the country in the North and East and the project will be carried out with the consensus of the Northern people and their leaders.The government had no intention in acquiring land which belongs to the Northern people and deprive their rights but planned to create a big revolution through the Plantation Ministry in the peninsula.

I very much understood the feelings of the Northern people who had lost their love ones due to the conflict as the Minister himself lost his father due to the same conflict.

We have now set a target of doubling the coconut production in the country within a period of 10 years and to produce 3,600 million nuts in 2016 and Rs. 600 million has been already allocated by the Treasury for the programme.

By using the new offices, the government plans to issue over 300,000 coconut plants to the people in the North and this year we had received Rs. 200 million for the North-East Coconut Development Project.

 

Q: What are your plans when it comes to the rubber industry?

A:  Rubber prices have come down with the international oil prices and that the Association of rubber producing countries is in the process of negotiating a floor price for natural rubber.

I urged Rubber smallholders not to cut the rubber trees, which is an asset. As far as the tea prices are concerned, there has been an improved trend in the prices at the Colombo auction.

Q: There were claims that the government was not looking after the small holders. What is the position about subsidies?

A: We will invariably give subsidies to small holders as we care about their welfare. We will not allow the tea and rubber sectors to collapse. Government aims to reduce waste and eliminate corruption in giving fertiliser subsidies to small farmers which will improve their effectiveness.

For tea, rubber and coconut small holders, the subsidy will be sent straight to their bank accounts and will not go through middlemen.