Advocata Institute in partnership with Echelon Magazine organized a public lecture by Ricardo Hausmann, from Harvard University's Centre for International Development. Following is a collection of press coverage for the lecture that encouraged Sri Lanka to take on ambitious high skilled immigration reform to increase knowhow in the economy.
From the Sunday Times : "Sri Lanka must open doors to skilled experts"
"Economist and consultant to the government on improving the Board of Investment (BOI), Prof. Ricardo Haussmann said that the immigration policy is the “lowest hanging fruit” which must expand to encourage more foreign knowhow."
From the Sunday Observer: Liberalising migrant labour policies key to propel growth - Prof Hausmann
“With the talent you have, you have the country you have. But with the talent you have, you cannot create the country you want to have. To have the country you want to have, you have to compete for talent,” the Professor advocated."
From the Daily News : Sri Lanka can create jobs, boost exports, by moving brains: Prof. Hausmann
“Only 18 percent were born in California, even though it has a population of 40 million, twice as big as Sri Lanka,” Hausmann said.” Silicon Valley would not exist if was based on locally grown talent.”
DailyFT Editorial : The immigration discourse
"Economies grow by adding new products and services to their production portfolio, and not by producing more of the same kinds of products. The key to such diversification is access to know-how, but know-how often has to come from abroad."
Immigration key catalyst for development
"Reforming immigration law to allow free movement of people through progressive laws could tackle Sri Lanka’s chronic economic challenges of narrow exports, low Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and limited innovation, a top expert said yesterday, outlining many examples of countries that have experienced growth spurts by opening up their labour markets."
LankaDeepa Sinhala Daily
ශ්රී ලංකාව මුහුණ පා ඇති අපනයන සීමා වීම හා ඍජු විදේශ ආයෝජන මඳ බව යන ගැටලුවලින් මිදීමට ආගමන සීමාකරණ ඉවත් කිරීමේ දැඩි අවශ්යතාවක් පවතින බව හාවඞ් මහාචාර්ය හඋස්මාන් පෙන්වා දෙයි.
Articles also appeared on Ceylon Today and DailyMirror on their print versions. An op-ed on the event by Advocata was published in all major English Dalies.