ADB has a bigger role to play in guiding highly impacted countries - Sabry

COLOMBO (News 1st); Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry has urged all parties to agree on a meaningful debt relief package for countries under debt stress.

He was delivering the Sri Lankan intervention at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Incheon, South Korea.

"I believe regional developing partners like the ADB are expected to play a bigger role in guiding the highly impacted countries to face the current challenges. I appreciate the ADB's efforts in helping to develop its member countries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic by allocating 20.5 billion USD from its own resources in 2022," he said.

'We cannot be satisfied with the little progress we have made thus far, sustaining this development is the demanding task ahead of us. Today we begin the journey to build a vibrant ad resilient economy to face the current challenges. Learning from the past, we are undertaking painful reforms. We have laid the basic foundation for transforming the economy, and have launched a comprehensive economic reform program seeking to stabilize the economy and to address the macroeconomic challenges," he added.

The Foreign Minister said that Sri Lanka remains committed to debt resolution consistent with the IMF program. 

"I urge all parties to agree on a meaningful debt relief package for the countries who are under debt stress. I am confident that by moving forward we will be able to improve fiscal performance and stabilize the economy in the near future," he noted.