ECT deal with India: Mangala backs Prez

…commends taking right decision at last

Amidst growing opposition to the SLPP government agreement on the East Container Terminal (ECT) with India, Mangala Samaraweera, who served as foreign and finance ministers in the previous yahapalana administration has backed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s stand on the issue.

In a statement issued on Sunday, one of the strongest critics of the Rajapaksas said that President Gotabaya proved his party wrong by reaching consensus on the Indian investment.

Samaraweera pulled out of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) Matara District list for the August 2020 general election at the last moment.

The former minister appreciated President Gotabaya Rajapaksa even at this late stage endorsing foreign investment though his party and those who backed him at the presidential election took a different view.

Referring to how foreign investment boosted Sri Lanka Telecom and the national carrier SriLankan, Samaraweera pointed out how President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently opened  Ferentino Tyre Corporation’s Horana factory, a project ridiculed by his own people.

Samaraweera said that the previous government took measures to attract foreign investment though the then Opposition undermined those efforts.

President Rajapaksa recently told port unions that the government would hold 51 per cent of the ECT whereas India’s Adani Group and other investors would take 49 percent.

The previous government signed a MoC (Memorandum of Cooperation) with India and Japan in respect of the ECT (SF)