President: Our region is blessed with visionary leaders like Rajapaksa and Modi

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has said that the region of South Asia is blessed with visionary leaders such as President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

The President made this remark while speaking at the 8th General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), which commenced today in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

President Yameen praised President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Modi for their commitment to strengthening the regional block, “in its political and economic dealings with other global spheres of influence”.

Speaking at the ceremony held at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, President Yameen said that people do not always agree on every issue, and in many cases, have contrasting ideologies and vastly differing approaches.

“However, let us always respect these differences and thereby respect one another. Let us recognise that by serving a political party or a political ideology, we are in fact, serving the people,” he said.

He further said that the 21st century is “the century of Asia” in many areas, such as economics, trade and commerce, achievement, and prosperity.

“In SAARC too, our political parties can through greater cooperation with respective governments ensure that national endeavours, programs and projects that are designed to uplift the lives of our people receive bipartisan support. Such maturity I believe will raise the confidence of the people in pluralism and participatory democracy,” he said.

President Yameen said that SAARC countries, by pooling their collective resources and emphasizing on comparative advantages, can overcome pressing problems and eradicate worrisome scourges, including poverty, environmental degradation, and unemployment.