To mark Sri Lanka’s 75th Independence Day celebrations , I recently availed an opportunity to conduct a conversational style interview of H.E. Vice Admiral (retd) Mohan Wijewickrama, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Pakistan. A major chunk of our interaction focused on strategic and economic interests alongside tourism and cultural/public diplomacy measures.
High Commissioner Wijewickrama pointed out that Sri Lanka used to be one of the richest countries in Asia during post-independence era but gradual increase in political instability resulted in limitations. However, he added that the state has a robust universal education and healthcare system which still remains amongst the finest in the region.
When it came to COVID-19 pandemic, the envoy was of the opinion that it had a deep impact on tourism sector that caused an average loss of four to five billon dollars annually. Given Sri Lanka is a regional tourism hub which is economically embedded, this was a concerning matter especially when Easter 2019 Colombo bombings by terrorists resulted in major economic losses and security concerns. However, the high commissioner told me that tourism has recovered to almost pre-pandemic levels nowadays.
The veteran diplomat and former military official highly spoke of bilateral ties between Sri Lanka and Pakistan which are ironclad as per his perspective. He added that the the militaries of the two South Asian allies have had a longstanding defence cooperation, and Islamabad played a crucial role in providing essential weaponry and military hardware to defeat the notorious militant organisation Tamil Tigers erstwhile known as the LTTE.
On the economic front, it was stated that both Islamabad and Colombo enjoy cordial ties with trade volume reaching approximately $500 million with bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed in 2005 playing its part. Of course, the potential is much higher but in terms of social and cultural ties, both countries have excellent cooperation with religious and casual tourism being one of the primary drivers for people-to-people contact.
When I asked about how the country is navigating its strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region in light of the brewing Cold War between Washington and Beijing, and formulation of security pacts and multilateral groups such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), AUKUS & I2U2; High Commissioner Wijewickrama opined that Sri Lanka is neutral and wishes to have good ties with everyone. He added that Colombo has a special relationship with Beijing which has strong economic interests in the Island nation. On a similar note, he pointed out that New Delhi has remained a steadfast ally which also came to financially rescue during the 2022 Sri Lankan economic crisis.
On the potential revival of SAARC as an effective bloc along the lines of the European Union (EU), we discussed the possibility of Colombo playing its part to reduce hostilities between Islamabad and New Delhi. The veteran envoy wholeheartedly agreed that SAARC has the will to become a global player and emphasised on collective efforts to fulfil this cause.
On a further note, I did ask him for an advise on how Pakistan can steer out of its ongoing economic crisis on which he had quite a precise diplomatic take focusing on the fact that capable hands can play their role and that each country’s crises are unique.
Our concluding discussions focused on tackling income inequality and cost-of-living crisis between the Global North and South when taking UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ speech at WEF Davos 2023 into consideration. On this, High Commissioner Wijewickrama had an idealist view of collective working relationship with international allies and stakeholders. I do certainly agree with his opinion and, perhaps, taking small pragmatic steps can lead to reduction in such kind of crises in the Global South.
The writer is Editor (Special Reports), Daily Times. He tweets @mhassankhan06