Financial Times

J-Biz seeks power-sharing deal
By Feizal Samath
As the country's political crisis deepened last week despite a fence-mending meeting between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, J-Biz sought to repair the damage by looking at a plan where both leaders share power.

Joint Business Forum (J-Biz) chairman Mahendra Amarasuriya sent letters to the President and the Prime Minister seeking separate meetings to discuss the crisis. As at Friday, there was no response to the request.

President Kumaratunga was separately inviting commerce and trade chambers for a crisis meeting on Tuesday which sources said was aimed at explaining her position and repeating support for the peace process. At least two chambers, the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) and the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) had received invitations.

The president met representatives of international lending agencies and explained the current political situation and the reasons for her moves, said Senior IMF Resident Representative Jeremy Carter "The position we took was that every effort should be made to reduce the uncertainty," Carter said, adding that Kumaratunga had "stressed that at no time did she intend to interfere with economic policies."
Representatives of J-Biz, the country's biggest business forum represented by about nine chamber organizations, held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the evolving crisis but were requested not to divulge details of the proposed plan to the media before it was discussed with the political leadership.

However The Sunday Times FT reliably learns that some of the proposals being considered by J-Biz for discussion with both leaders is power-sharing options and the formation of a national committee comprising representatives of all parties.
However some chambers were concerned that J-Biz was not responding to the crisis in a meaningful way to put pressure on both leaders.

A spokesman for the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) said it was necessary for some action to bring the two leaders together. "There is no doubt that President Kumaratunga's decisions affected the economy and business and was badly timed. On the other hand, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe should also discipline his MPs and temper criticism of the president if cohabitation is to work," he said adding that the crisis clearly showed that both leaders must work together.

"This country will perish if the two leaders don't work together and it is up to the business community to take the lead role to make this happen," the spokesman said adding that he was reflecting the views of 40 other chambers who are members of FCCISL.

There was also concern that business leaders are divided on party lines and don't have the guts to confront both political parties. "You can't find a business leader who is prepared to take a strong stand and demand that the political leadership work for the nation and its people," said the head of a business group.

Separately a group of business personalities was trying to initiate a dialogue aimed at "knocking some sense into the two leaders and their political parties." "The irony is that Velupillai Prabhakaran showed his leadership qualities in respecting the peace process while Colombo is woefully lacking in leadership," a member of the group said.

It is also reliably understood that donors are prepared to fund a public campaign to promote cohabitation in the peace process and some local groups have been approached to take the initiative to prevent the political crisis from worsening.
Prospects of fresh polls also worried businessmen.

The situation however hasn't affected the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the US and Sri Lanka, Molly K. Williamson, a top US Commerce official told members of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), at a meeting on Friday. Williamson, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, during a two-day visit was reported to have said the FTA process hasn't entered into the negotiations stage as yet and thus was unaffected.

However the Joint Apparel Associations Forum (JAAF) was sending a letter to Wickremesinghe urging him to persuade US President George Bush to go ahead with negotiations on the FTA. " The US is planning to announce next week the start of negotiations on FTAs with Peru and Chile and we should have been on that list if not for the present crisis," said Ashrof Omar, JAAF chairman and convener.

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