Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, Dr. Gamani Corea, Prof. Indraratna, distinguished invitees, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I welcome all of you on behalf of both the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA) for this felicitation event in honour of a distinguished economist of Sri Lanka – Dr. Gamani Corea. We at the Institute of Policy Studies and the Sri Lanka Economic Association felicitate Dr. Corea today by releasing two volumes -- a book and a journal – in recognition of the services he has rendered both to Sri Lanka and the world at large.

Gamani Corea is the founder Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies. He has served the Institute for the past 15 years and made a significant contribution to the Institute’s growth and development. Gamani Corea is also the founder President of the Sri Lanka Economic Association, and gave the initial leadership to launch and sustain the Association. He served as the President of the Economic Association from 1985 to 1991. In October 2002, the Institute of Policy Studies and the Sri Lanka Economic Association decided that we should bring a volume of essays in recognition of Gamani Corea’s services to the Institute and the Economic Association and also in recognition of his general contribution to the domestic and international economy. The Institute of Policy Studies focused on a book titled ‘Economic Policy in Sri Lanka: Issues and Debates’ while the Economic Association focused on a special Volume of the Sri Lanka Economic Journal containing essays both on domestic and international economic issues. This is the background in brief for the event today.

The book that we are launching today was conceptualized in late 2002. It was felt that although there are a number of books on the Sri Lankan economy, there is hardly any book that focuses on economic policy debates. Therefore, it was decided that the book’s focus should be on economic policy debates in Sri Lanka since Independence. Moreover, we decided to cover some contemporary economic issues that have not been covered in earlier books, that is the reason why we selected the title for the book: “Economic Policy in Sri Lanka: Issues and Debates”. The book is 520 pages long and is published by Sage International publishers.

There are six major themes in the book: first, Development Strategy and Ideology; second, Macroeconomic Policy; third, Agriculture, Industry and Technology Development; fourth, Employment and Labour; fifth, Institutional and Governance Issues; and sixth, Social Welfare. Under each section there are 3 to 5 essays written by leading economists and social scientists. There are 23 Chapters and 7 of them have been written by economists and social scientists of Gamani Corea’s generation who worked with him at one time or another. 5 of the essays have been written by economists a generation below Gamani Corea but who worked with him again at one time or another. 5 of the essays have been written by the so-called second generation economists who have worked with Gamani Corea. Another 4 essays were written by expatriate Sri Lankan economists and social scientists who are admirers of Gamani Corea and have researched Corea’s work and are well conversant with them.

The book covers the entire national planning exercise in which Gamani Corea was heavily involved in 1950s and 1960s. It covers Central Banking – another field that Gamani Corea was involved during 1950s until early 1970s. It goes beyond all that and covers ideology governing policy – export pessimism, role of the public sector, exchange rates, and so on. The export pessimism among Sri Lankan policy makers in the early years after Independence due to the declining terms of trade is covered extensively in Chapter 2. The role of the public sector in the development equation is covered in Chapter 5. The partial liberalization exercise during 1965-1970, when Gamani Corea was the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs is covered in Chapters 1, 3, 8, and 18. Many crucial policy issues during the 1965-70 period are discussed in these Chapters. For example, for the first time in Sri Lanka the exchange rate was used as a policy instrument to promote exports in 1968 when the dual exchange rate policy was introduced. Gamani Corea was the architect of this policy. During that time, there was pessimism among policy makers about export led growth as a development strategy and that is the reason why a half hearted exchange rate policy rather than full scale devaluation was implemented. Later on, Gamani Corea revealed to us that the IMF delegation at that time was not happy with the dual exchange rate and had made the remark that it was the “wrong step in the right direction”. But the local policy makers argued that it was the policy that was designed to accommodate the political realities of that time. Anyway, the foundation stone for an export-led development strategy was laid when Gamani Corea was the key economic advisor to the government at that time.

It would be worthwhile at this juncture to recall some of the positions that Gamani Corea has taken in the local economic debates. With regard to industrialization he always argued for some degree of protectionism, stating that it is not only the infant industry argument that one should look at but also the fact that most developing countries were infant economies. Corea did not believe in the text book case for the invisible hand of the market, nor did he advocate full scale state intervention in an economy. Corea often used the parallel of the colonial economy of Sri Lanka where there was no state intervention and markets were free to operate, but where industrialization hardly took place. He presented the case that the development process in Sri Lanka during the early years after independence required leadership and the involvement by the public sector. It was a reflection of the fact that at that stage of Sri Lanka’s development, the private sector was weak and largely led by foreign institutions and forces, and also the fact that the resources, the skills and capabilities were to be found more in the public sector and they had to be mobilized to set in motion the development process. In the early 1990s, Corea drawing on the lines of Lenin’s equation of ‘Soviets plus electrification equals socialism’ said ‘infrastructure plus skills equals development in Sri Lanka’. He identified the poor infrastructure and lack of skills as the key impediment for the progress of the economy.

In his international career, his contribution has been well recognized – the UNCTAD became a hive of intellectual activity during his period of Chairmanship, the Integrated Programme for Commodities was among the finest of his achievements, the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative was an outcome of his efforts while serving in the Non-Aligned Expert Group on Third World Debt. He worked assiduously to assist developing countries to define a common platform. Gamani Corea never became cynical or embittered about the North-South deadlock that he faced continually during his international career and always retained the confidence in the power of persuasion and in the ultimate victory of reason over unreason.

He always believed in an international regulation mechanism under which the initial disadvantaged conditions of the developing countries in the development efforts were explicitly taken into account. In other words, he is a strong supporter of Special and Differential treatment in the international system, that is the reason why he aggressively pursued to broaden the GSP scheme while at UNCTAD. Corea did not believe in the so-called level playing field in the international economic environment, stating that under such a field “the stronger team will keep wining year after year”. He referred frequently in his speeches to globalization and liberalization as a fast moving ‘express train’ that everyone has been requested to get into to be carried to new heights, and if they did not get in, they would be left behind and marginalized. He viewed the current policy prescription to developing countries as a ‘do it yourself kit’, a self help apparatus, with emphasis almost exclusively on domestic policy, soft peddling and underplaying the external economic environment.

In recognition of his lead role in developing country concerns, Gamani Corea was appointed Chairman of the South Centre in 2002 after the death of its then Chairman, Julius Nyrere -- the former President of Tanzania. Furthermore, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to development theory and practice; for his analysis of global political economy from the perspective of the South; and for his enduring struggle for political and economic independence of developing countries, Gamani Corea was awarded by the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations, the prestigious Celso Furtado Award -- an award named after the distinguished Latin American Structural Economist, Celso Furtado. The award was forwarded to the Institute of Policy Studies by the South Centre in Geneva to be presented to Gamani Corea today.

Two of Corea’s collegues from overseas – Jan Pronk – the Deputy Secretary-General of the UNCTAD during 1980-1985 and former Minister of Development Cooperation in the Netherlands, and Muchkund Dubey, former Foreign Secretary of the government of India made contributions to the Sri Lanka Economic Journal special issue in recognition of Gamani Corea’s services to the international economic system.

Gamani Corea’s immense contribution to economic policy – both domestic and international – cannot be summarized in 15 minutes. Suffice to say that most areas in domestic economic policy that has been of concern to Gamani Corea has been covered in the book and the journal. In the introduction that I wrote to the Volume, I have attempted to summarize Corea’s involvement with domestic and international economic policy. His most up to date CV is also included in the book. This information together with the Chapters provides a broad brush picture of Corea’s concerns and involvement on economic policy issues and debates in Sri Lanka.

The launch of the Volume today we believe is a fitting tribute to a person who has brought much distinction to Sri Lanka and whom we consider as a scholar, mentor and above all a friend. It is with much gratitude that the Institute of Policy Studies dedicates this Volume to Gamani Corea. We also consider this as a Birthday present for him given two days in advance of his 79th Birthday.

Let me conclude by taking this opportunity to thank all those who assisted me in preparing the Volume. I would like to thank all those who contributed to the Volume. I would like to record my thanks to the staff members who were involved with this project at the Institute of Policy Studies and the Sri Lanka Economic Association. I would also like to thank all the sponsors of this event for their generous financial support. Last but not least, I would like to record my particular thanks to Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, despite his very busy schedule for having accepted our invitation and being present here as the Chief Guest.

May I once again welcome all of you and thank you for having accepted our invitation and being present here today.

I thank you.