Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe has called on India to play a leading role in devising a SAARC led regionl resposnse to Covid-19 crisis.
The SAARC Secretariat should play an active role in the region’s response to COVID-19, along with “someone in-charge”probably India, he told the Hindu news paper in interview recently
He said“This is a good time for a regional cooperation programme. This is a global pandemic without a global leadership. Maybe the region can’t provide leadership for all. But the first virtual meeting of SAARC leaders was good, looking at the background and the problems that are there.”
South Asian countries must treat this as a humanitarian issue and come up with a regional response.
Maybe one or two countries, for instance India and one other could put up a proposal, which then can be looked at by others, and possibly amended. Let us all work together. We [Sri Lanka], for instance have a good public health system. So has Kerala. We can work together on that, he added.
We could start companies to start manufacturing. Of course, when they start their prices may not be that competitive, but we decide on it and everyone buys from one or two companies earmarked for it.
Job creation will also be a major challenge, especially since migrant workers from the region, who were working in West Asian Countries, are returning and may not go back, he revealed.
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