Sri Lanka’s investment opportunities to be promoted in India
The Morning Business: Investment opportunities in Sri Lanka are expected to be promoted, targeting the investor and business community in Gujarat, which is one of the most industrialised states in India.
This was disclosed during a recent investment webinar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)/Gujarat Chapter and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI), partnered with the Consulate General in Mumbai.
Titled “Strengthening Bilateral Trade and Investment Opportunities with Sri Lanka”, the webinar primarily explored potential investment opportunities in Sri Lanka for BOI’s strategic development projects based out of its newly established pharmaceutical zone in Arabokka and textile zone in Eravur.
During his address, Consul General of Sri Lankan in Mumbai Dr. Valsan Vethody highlighted that organising this webinar is timely, especially at this juncture, where the Indo-Sri Lankan relationship is on a transformational phase. He stated that already there are more than 65 major Indian companies in 35 major sectors and that Sri Lanka is grateful for their significant contribution towards its economic growth, rebuilding of infrastructure, technology transfer, and employment generation and, as such, to the consolidation of bilateral relations.
Speaking about the current investment climate, he said the investment environment in Sri Lanka, unlike the earlier days, has already undergone tremendous improvement. Sri Lanka’s unique strengths, such as its unique geostrategic position, robust institutions, social infrastructure, political stability, highly skilled workforce, world-class infrastructure, quality of life, and widespread connectivity, will all be leveraged to set the platform to achieve Sri Lanka’s ambition to double the national output, to $ 8,000 per capita gross domestic product (GDP), from its current level by 2030.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, in his address, appreciated the efforts by the Consul General in promoting Sri Lanka’s interests in the western region of India and invited Indian investors to benefit from the investment opportunities available in Sri Lanka at the moment. He further provided the assurance that each and every concern of investors coming to Sri Lanka will be addressed and that the Central Bank is always ready to facilitate the investors.
BOI Executive Director for Investment Promotion Prasanjith Wijayatilake made a comprehensive presentation on the investment opportunities available in Sri Lanka. Delivering the remarks representing the Indian investor and business community, CII/Gujarat State Council Chairman Vinod Agrawal said that they are keen on partnering with Sri Lanka and that major players of the pharmaceutical industry in Gujarat will be interested in investing in the pharma zone in Hambantota. The Consulate and the CII then agreed to explore the possibility of organising an investor delegation from the Gujarat pharma sector to Sri Lanka.
The keynote speeches for the session were delivered by Dr. Vethody, Cabraal, Agrawal, India CEO Forum Chairman Kishore Reddy, and Navitas Green Solutions Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shaibal Ghosh.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka and India enjoy strong bilateral and trade ties that have been further strengthened by a functioning free trade agreement (FTA). Sri Lanka’s positioning itself as a growing business destination in the South Asian region and the country’s ongoing development programme have all boosted the country’s business potential expanding business/investment opportunities as well. Indian businesses/investors could therefore confidently explore the growing business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka while also looking at the possibility of forming partnerships or joint ventures with local businesses. Also, foreign businesses/investors interested in doing business with India could look at setting up base in Sri Lanka to engage with India.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/05012022/Z_2 |