Four years as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Singapore was challenging for Ms Sashikala Premawardhane. But it was also “very fruitful”.
“Clearly, Covid-19 was a difficult period,” the career diplomat, who will be returning to Colombo soon to take up a post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told tabla!. “We had border closures on both sides and short-term travellers from Sri Lanka were stuck here. We did not have a lot of funding to deal with the situation.
“But what I saw was an outpouring of support from the Singapore community. They gave us support to house the short-term travellers until the borders opened and Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided our workers, who had finished their contracts and were waiting to go back home, with quarantine facilities so they didn’t have to spend money.” “That was a wonderful reflection of the community linkages. We operated seven repatriation flights together with Sri Lankan airlines and sent back about 1,500 people.”
Ms Premawardhane was thankful to the Temasek Foundation for providing test kits, oxygen machines and ventilators for those suffering from Covid-19 in Sri Lanka.
“The Singapore Red Cross Society and the Singapore Sri Lanka Business Association also raised funds for us,” she said. “Several individual donors supported our efforts.
“We had about 800 students studying here who had issues of getting finances from Sri Lanka. For about two months, we cooked food for them, both lunch and dinner, and the staff from the High Commission actually delivered it.
“So, at that point, we learnt a lot about each other, about the kind of support we can get in Singapore. It was a wonderful experience of bilateral support.”
Sri Lankan workers in Singapore, Ms Premawardhane pointed out, are well looked after because there are lots of rules and regulations in place. “Out of the 13,000 Sri Lankans in Singapore, about 3,000 are domestic workers,” she said. “During Covid, we provided them with information and support.
“We set up a women’s cricket team of migrant workers and educated them on mental health and how to manage their finances and send money home through legal channels.”“Apart from that, we don’t have a lot of issues on the welfare front.”
The High Commission has focused on promoting the entry of skilled and semi-skilled workers into Singapore, said Ms Premawardhane.
“A lot of work we did for about one and a half years was to increase the entry of Sri Lankan nurses,” she said. “We did not have Sri Lankan nurses in Singapore before. Now we have 108, and more are coming. The Ministry of Health’s nursing board have been holding exams in Sri Lanka and our nurses have done well.”
The strong community ties have made this process smooth, said Ms Premawardhane, whoShe observed that Sri Lanka’s relationship with Singapore overall is “very good, very friendly and warm”.
“Visits have taken place at a high level,” she said. “And we are expecting a working visit of the President very soon. “There were a few issues with the free trade agreement signed in 2018. But those have been resolved and we are going forward with it.”
For much closer cooperation, Ms Premawardhane would like Singapore to do more trade with and investments in Sri Lanka.
“The trade at the moment is heavily in favour of Singapore,” she said. “We hope that we’ll bridge that gap to a certain extent soon.”
Sri Lankan tea, of course, is popular in Singapore, along with seafood, especially crab.
“I think there’s a lot more scope for cooperation between the two sides on food security,” she said. “Sri Lanka is a good source for agricultural and fisheries produce. That’s something that Singapore needs to look at a little bit more closely.
“But we would require a lot of investments in that area, as we need to develop more warehousing and distribution capabilities. And, for that, I think Singapore has several giants who can come into Sri Lanka and help us.
“We would also like to see more investments in the renewable energy and real estate sectors.”
Despite the socio-economic upheaval Sri Lanka has faced, Ms Premawardhane feels it is a safe country to visit. “Till July this year, we had more than 700,000 visitors from across the globe,” she said. “That demonstrates that it’s a safe country to travel to. We see a lot of tourists coming in, and hopefully there will be more tourists from Singapore coming in as well.
“Sri Lanka has really bounced back quite quickly from the economic downturn. We have been able to secure the IMF extended fund facility of close to US$3 billion. And that that gives a lot of stability on the macroeconomic front. Inflation has dropped from about 70 per cent six months ago to 12 per cent, which is a huge achievement. There has been a peaceful transition in the government, and we expect the political stability to continue.”
Singapore, for Ms Prewardhane, was a “wonderful experience, as it was her first posting as a High Commissioner.
“I’ve completed 25 years in the ministry of foreign affairs and I couldn’t have asked for a better first posting as high commissioner,” she said. ‘There’s a lot of predictability in how things work in Singapore, and I like that stability.
“People have been extremely forthcoming, and it’s been a pleasure working with the Singapore government officials. I take back with me very good memories of not only the people, but also the relationship that we have forged.”
