Germany keen to support Sri Lanka’s development: Beckmayer

Germany State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Uwe Beckmayer – Pic by Upul Abayasekara

Germany State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Uwe Beckmayer believes Sri Lanka needs a reliable business environment, based on good governance and stable policies towards building continued goodwill and healthy business relations between the two countries. During his three-day visit to Sri Lanka the State Secretary took time-off to give an exclusive interview to Daily FT. Below are excerpts of the interview.  

By Charumini de Silva

Q: What’s the significance of this visit?

A: We have been following the political developments in Sri Lanka over the recent years and we are very glad to see a fundamental political change. This has greatly encouraged the German business community to come back and do business in Sri Lanka again. I think it gives very good starting point from which to expand our economic relations. Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena visited Germany back in February with a delegation at which point Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German Government promised that we should come and bring a business delegation to Sri Lanka, so here we are. 

Q: What are the MoUs signed between the two countries?

A: One of the MoUs signed was between private company Siemens and the Ministry of Megapolis Development. This MoU is a start of a joint cooperation to start a feasibility study in the smart city development in the Western Region Megapolis. The second one is a joint Declaration of Intent Concerning Cooperation on Sustainable Energy between the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy and the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany. By signing on to this we want to explore the best areas for more intense cooperation.

Q: Does Germany have similar agreements signed with other countries? 

A: Yes. We are also in contact with similar cooperation with other countries, especially in the renewable energy sector. We are very experienced in the area. If you look at the site related factors in Sri Lanka there is a special opportunity to establish renewable energy looking at the abundance of natural power sources such as sun, wind and hydro. I feel that the Sri Lankan Government is also planning to fashion its policies based on renewable energy sources for sustainable energy supply in the country. We are pleased to extend our expertise and support in this endeavour. 

Q: What’s your outlook on Sri Lanka?

A: My outlook on Sri Lanka is quite simple; it is that we get a feeling there is a sense of a new start. As a Government which has a new economic vision, it wants to create prospects for the people and country, it wants to create opportunities for the people with employment and build up the prosperity of the whole country. We want to be on board and help with that. 

Q: What are the key investment areas your delegation is looking at and what were the economic areas discussed with Sri Lankan leaders? 

A: One major area is vocational training. Germany has a 150 years of experience with what we call the dual vocational training system, which means a good blend of both theoretical and practical training and it is a big trademark in our Small and Medium size business community in which we call the ‘Mittelstand’ in Germany.  It needs a good cooperation between employers and employees, which benefits both sides. I think it is going to serve as a model to Sri Lanka as well because we heard that the Government wants to roll out this model throughout the country. The second major area is tourism — massive opportunities for both sides. Thirdly of course the manufacturing sector, we believe that Sri Lanka can be a base for exports to many other countries through manufacturing products. The fourth field is infrastructure, and we heard that Government is going to call for tenders. We were quite confident that German companies are also submitting bids.  

Q: Have the German companies already given any signals to go for these investment opportunities?

A: Well…we certainly received positive signals today, the progress that we made by participating on the B2B meetings. However, today is not the best to talk about the specific details; we will leave that for the near future.  

Q: The new Government is working hard to increase international investment, but the global environment is challenging. What do you think Sri Lanka needs to focus on to make itself more attractive to global investors, especially to German investors?   

A: I think what we mainly need is a reliable business environment, with good governance and stable policies — because it is the private sector companies investing in. I told my colleagues in the Sri Lankan Government this morning, that this delegation is going back to Germany and take a message home with them, not particularly the sectors that they are involved in but throughout the German business community. 

Q: Were there any special discussions on trade, investment deals with Sri Lanka?

A: Bilateral and multilateral trade agreements are something which are under the responsibility of the European Union and the Union negotiates for the 28 member states. What Germany wants is reliable trade agreements with countries outside the European Union. The best solution that we see is under the umbrella of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). However, some negotiations on trade agreements are underway. At the same time certain civil societies have critical views about negotiations on trade agreements, but nevertheless we are making progress on this. 

Q: What can you say about the policy consistency in Sri Lanka?

A: We have been receiving good reports from the Embassy through our Ambassador about the developments in Sri Lanka and they kept telling us that is well worth coming across to see what’s happening. Certainly, the forces for democracy here are something we feel we need to support because it is a crucial political model for the welfare of any country. Therefore we believe that democratisation and the sense of renewal goes hand in hand in economic development. The liberalisation has unleashed a lot of forces and strengthens in the economy and we want to support that.

Q: You are in Sri Lanka with a business delegation. What are their views? 

A: Well...this is a fact finding mission and the idea is to build up business to business (B2B) contacts between individual companies. The members of the delegation have come here with great expectations. Some already have contacts and they want to build up, some are looking for new contacts, some of them want to address their issues with the Government officials. What we want to do as the German Government is to try and support this development. 

Q: How can Germany support overall economic development in Sri Lanka? How does Germany see its relationship with Sri Lanka growing in the coming years?  

A: We have already seen a lot of good examples during our stay and for example we can help in financing certain projects. Also we have a big list of German companies already doing business in Sri Lanka. German firms are already providing over 10,000 employment opportunities to Sri Lankan people. In addition 115,000 German tourists visited Sri Lanka and there is room for more to come. There are quite a few German tourism companies who are keen on setting up hotels and contributing to the development of tourism sector. Automotive exports are also something German companies are actively involved in Sri Lanka. Vocational training is another area we can help. We are also very reliable partner in industrial manufacturing, renewable energy and building smart cities. These are some of the areas that German companies can bring so much expertise and experience to Sri Lanka and we want to help you with that. One other example is every two years German industry organises what we call the Asia Pacific Conference which is scheduled to be held between 3 to 5 November in Hong Kong this year. We invited Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to take part in this because we feel that it is very important for the Sri Lankan Government to attend.

Q: You mentioned about setting up of a new Chamber between Sri Lanka and Germany. Could you elaborate on that?

A: At the moment we have Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai which covers Sri Lanka as well. But we would now like to see a separate Sri Lanka - German bilateral Chamber of Commerce. The vision is mutually shared by the Sri Lankan Government as well. If the potential membership is there for a bilateral Chamber of Commerce then we believe it should be started. This Chamber of Commerce are partly funded by the German Government and partly by the industries. Although our goal is to establish this Chamber as quickly as possible, we cannot make a quick Government decision rather it got to be come out from the business community, because they are the ones that need to drive the project forward. However, it has the support from both Governments. 

Q: On Germany’s role in SL getting GSP Plus status, how can the German Government assist this endeavor? 

A: It is on a very good track. We are very confident that this moved faster than everybody thought. Germany extended its support from the very beginning and we observed that all the proceedings were moved on time with high priority in the European Union. Of course when it comes to the voting in the European Union and Parliament, Sri Lanka can be assured that German delegates and Government will be in favour of the GSP+ with all the conditions set right.