Ambassador Robert Blake’s Remarks at the Opening of Marvell Sarvodya Vocational Training Center, Batticaloa

January 23, 2008

Dr. A.T.Ariyaratne, Mr. Arumainayaham, Mr. Careem, Ms. Sharadha de Saram, Ms. Shelagh Savage, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentleman, I am so pleased to be here to help open  this school which will help many Sri Lankans build a better future that they desire and most certainly deserve. I sincerely thank you for inviting me to be the Guest of Honor; it is a great honor indeed.

I would like to begin my remarks with a quote from a wise former President of my own country, John F. Kennedy.  He once said that, “our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education."   President Kennedy’s words apply not only to the U.S. but also to Sri Lanka and every other country in today’s competitive, globalized world. 

Important investments in education and training, such as the one we are celebrating here today, will help the young people of Sri Lanka, your country’s most important asset, to assure a bright future for this nation and themselves.  

There are many people I would like to acknowledge.  First, it is always an honor to share a platform with Dr. Ariyaratne, the Founder of the Sarvodya Movement which has done so much to benefit Sri Lanka. 

I also want to acknowledge and thank the two American partners in this project.  The Marvell Charitable Fund of the United States and Give2Asia, a US-based nonprofit established by The Asia Foundation to promote philanthropy to Asia, both provided generous funding for this project.  

Most of you know that the U.S. is the largest donor of development assistance around the world.  Perhaps less well known is that assistance from private sources in America, including nongovernmental organizations and businesses are more than for times what the Government provides.  Marvell and Give 2 Asia are two important and wonderful examples. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the US Agency for International Development has been working in the east for many years.  Of all the important things we are doing, there is perhaps none more crucial than vocational training. USAID is now building nine vocational training centers in the east and south through our Tsunami Reconstruction Project, and we have contributed significant resources to help work on two additional centers through our Transition Initiatives program.

In partnership with the Sri Lankan Vocational Training Authority, these vocational training centers will deliver quality training, job counseling and placement assistance and school-to-work services that promise to improve employment possibilities for 20,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 25. 

These institutions of learning will help young people become productive members of society by teaching skills in trades that lead to well-paying jobs, helping Sri Lanka grow into a more prosperous country.

One of the most impressive aspects of this new Centre is not only the building itself, and what is inside it, but also the process that has led to this event here today.

Prospective students were encouraged to participate in the construction work. The hands-on training in areas such as masonry and brick work, carpentry and plumbing, they received will improve their future employment prospects as well as giving the community and beneficiaries a sense of pride in the new facilities.  You should all be proud of what you have accomplished. 

Another unique and promising feature of this center will be the language skills training.  Sinhala speakers can learn Tamil, Tamils can learn Sinhala, and both can learn English.  These language skills will create new opportunities for cooperation, mutual understanding, as well as employment.

Ladies and gentlemen, the United States is committed to working with the Government of Sri Lanka, our friends in the private sector, and the NGO and donor communities, to stabilize and reconstruct Batticaloa and the rest of the East.

We are working to ensure that this process takes place in a manner that enhances relations between the Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities, and gradually puts authority for local administration into the hands of elected representatives from each of these communities. 

The Batticaloa district elections office is now accepting nominations from political parties to contest for seats on nine local councils in Batticaloa. 

These elections mark an important opportunity to give citizens in areas formerly controlled by the LTTE their first elected representatives in years. 

But free and fair elections cannot be held if one party is allowed to bear arms and intimidate and threaten voters and other contestants.  Unchecked paramilitary activity also discourages the private sector investment that will be crucial to the future of the east.

That’s why the United States believes that paramilitaries including the TMVP must not be allowed to carry arms, but should instead compete with the strength of their words rather than the threat of a bullet.     

Free and fair elections without violence or intimidation will help stabilize this region give its inhabitants new promise and hope for a secure and prosperous future. 

Let me again thank you and congratulate Sarvodya and our partners on your completion of this new beginning.  My Embassy colleagues and I stand ready to help in any way we can to advance this worthy endeavor. 

Let me conclude by quoting an Old Persian proverb that says “when it is dark, you can see the stars.”

Batticaloa has experienced many dark days.

But thanks to efforts such as the one we are celebrating today, the young people of Batticaloa can begin to see the stars again, and a brighter future for themselves and their country.