Sri Lanka receives Euro 11 million grant from Germany for technical assistance
The government of Sri Lanka has signed an agreement with Germany recently to obtain a technical assistance grant of Euro 11 million (over Rs. 2 billion) to implement three projects, including vocational training and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development.
According to reports, the Vocational Training programme will be allocated Euro 7 million, and aims at providing demand-oriented cooperative vocational training for young people.
The Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Sector Development in Sri Lanka is to receive Euro 3.5 million to remove major obstacles to the global competitiveness of Sri Lankan SMEs.
The smallest share of the grant, Euro 0.5 million, is to be for a Study and Expert Fund that will be to utilise finance preparation of new projects, to fund small-scale projects and for financing German experts.
The above projects will be implemented by GIZ of the German Government.
The Government of Germany has been assisting the Sri Lankan Government’s efforts to develop the vocational training sector and SME sector by providing technical and grant aid cooperation through various interventions, local media reports stated.
OSL take:
The technical assistance financing received from Germany is indicative of the level of confidence enjoyed by Sri Lanka’s development programme. Sri Lanka is undoubtedly viewed as a country with much business potential. Given Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the ease of doing business environment, the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country will make it easy for the island to become a business hub in the South Asian region. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore confidently explore opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20200618/6 |