s financial institutions for money laundering and financing of terrorism activities. these measures were taken under the exchange control act ; the customs ordinance and the banking act. pending the enactment of the new legislation, the central bank too issued as far back as 2001, ‘ know your customer ’ ( kyc ) guidelines to all banks and urged adherence when dealing with clients and counterparties. we cannot however be satisfied with the results because it is unlikely that terrorism activity in particular, on the scale that has been unleashed in sri lanka, could have taken place if these measures to combat terrorism financing and money laundering had in fact been effective. we believe, the measures introduced have only marginally deterred terrorism financing from delivering such ill - gotten funds to destabilize our country, particularly before 9 / 11 / 2001. as many know, sri lanka has been crying foul for many years about fund raising for terrorism, taking place in many countries, where the funds were used to procure and supply weapons to wage terrorist activity in our country. sadly, our pleas were not taken too seriously. but the world took greater note of this scourge after 9 / 11 / 2001. fortunately for us, post 9 / 11, anti money laundering and terrorism financing measures were pursued with vigour at international level and these processes have been evolving rapidly in recent years. the international community has witnessed the use of increasingly sophisticated methods to curtail the move of illicit funds through the financial systems across the globe. sri lanka, naturally, was keen to support this global effort and soon established a comprehensive legal and institutional framework for anti - money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. hence, the enactment of the legislation by our country ’ s legislature is welcomed by all of us who value stable economies and peaceful societies. due to the scale and magnitude of the heightened global interest in money laundering and terrorist financing, international obligations too, required many countries to introduce legislation. in fact, in terms of their international obligations the legislative approach pursued by many countries, including sri lanka, has been in the context of security council resolution 1373 dealing, inter alia, with financing of terrorism and the international convention on the suppression of financing of terrorism. these agreements have, to a great extent, unified the world in its fight to meet this challenge and, i dare say, the closing of ranks among the countries of the world, would have certainly helped to curtail terrorism which may otherwise have reached unimaginable levels, thereby threatening world peace in general and

at the technical sessions would help policymakers immensely to reshape their policy focus appropriately. in conclusion, let me emphasize our deep commitment to your theme by referring to our own mission at the central bank. the vision of the central bank is that of being a credible and dynamic central bank contributing to the prosperity of sri lanka. as set out in our strategic plan, the term prosperity has a wider connotation : i. e., the enhancement of the quality of life of people through sustainable wealth creation and inclusion of all segments of the society in enjoying the benefits of development. the central bank expects to facilitate this process by ensuring price stability and financial system stability while providing prudential and pro - active policy recommendations, as the advisor to the government on economic affairs. we have, so far, taken a pro - active stance in the delivery of prosperity and we are encouraging the key stakeholders in our country also, to implement the necessary strategies towards such end. we see the sri lanka economic association as being a key partner in the delivery of prosperity in our country and we commend you for your commitment and dedication. we are confident that you, together with other stakeholders would overcome the various challenges and someday soon, we would all be in a position to truly state that we have ushered in development with equality. i wish your conference all success.