Sri Lankan government to raise foreign ownership in ship agencies to 60 percent
The Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka has reportedly stated that the government as the first step towards liberalizing the maritime sector would raise foreign ownership in ship agencies to 60 percent with officials from Maersk coming for talks soon on bidding for a new port terminal.
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama has reportedly told European Union officials that Sri Lanka was going ahead with liberalizing the shipping sector.
“In the first stage foreigners will be permitted to own 60 percent of the shipping companies,” a BOI statement has said.
“This was very important to build up confidence in the European Union for Sri Lanka.”
The move would also help significantly in attracting Foreign Direct Investment inflows to the country.
The government has said it plans to lift the 40 percent foreign ownership restriction on shipping agencies.
According to the BOI, a number of important decisions were taken the eighth EU-Sri Lanka investor dialogue where the liberalization of the shipping sector was discussed.
“It was decided by the Minister that a high level meeting with the EU side and the Minister of Ports Shipping, Finance and International and representatives of Maersk would discuss the bidding process for the East Terminal.
”The EU would monitor the implementation of the decision by Sri Lanka to allow 60 percent ownership of shipping line in Sri Lanka.”
OSL take:
The Sri Lankan government has pledged to liberalize the country’s maritime sector in order to achieve the target of securing hub status for Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean region. The move by the government to raise foreign ownership in shipping agencies in Sri Lanka to 60 percent would increase interest among global shipping lines to set up operations in Sri Lanka. Global leader in maritime, Maersk has already expressed interest to discuss and set up base in Colombo. Therefore, other foreign shipping lines could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s maritime sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/21302019/Z_3 |