By Rathindra Kuruwita

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday emphasised that empowering the estate sector will be a top priority of a future SJB government.

Premadasa said so after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several political parties representing the estate community. The event was attended by Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader Mano Ganesan, National Union of Workers (NUW) leader Palani Thigambaram, and SJB MP M. Udayakumar.

“This document, consisting of seven chapters and 48 clauses, outlines the estate sector community’s aspirations to be fully integrated into the political, administrative, economic, and social fabric of Sri Lanka. It is not an agreement about the distribution of ministerial portfolios in an SJB administration,” said Premadasa.

Premadasa further pledged to establish a presidential task force dedicated to uplifting the estate sector community within 48 hours of his election as President. The Opposition leader also promised that under his administration, estate sector workers would be transformed into tea smallholders.

Speaking at the event, Ganesan said the estate sector community has been marginalized for 200 years. The agreement with the frontrunner in the coming election is a victory in itself, he said

Earlier in the day, Premadasa met with coconut cultivators and pledged to introduce a national policy for the coconut industry. The cultivators presented him with a policy framework they had developed, and Premadasa promised to establish a presidential task force to integrate all institutions involved in coconut cultivation.

“We currently earn around 740 million U.S. dollars from exporting coconut products, but we need to increase this to at least 2.5 billion dollars,” he stated.

Premadasa also noted that the country produces three billion coconuts annually, with a goal to boost production to 4.5 billion.