Govt. woos Japanese investors

By Shehana Dain

In a fresh push to woo investment, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samawaickrama called on Japanese investors to cash in on the five most promising domains in addition to the Government’s flagship undertaking, the Western Region Megapolis Project which, he said, will eventually transform the Sri Lankan economic landscape.

 Addressing a Japanese delegation at a business forum held promptly following President Sirisena’s visit to Japan last month, Samarwickrama said that private investors from Japan should look into large projects which are envisaged in the parameters of infrastructure, transport, residential and commercial real estate, ICT and an international financial center under the British Law.

 “The visit to Tokyo also enabled high level consultations on economic cooperation between our two countries. The Japanese government pledged a substantial amount of assistance to promote the socioeconomic development of Sri Lanka,” he added.

 The Minister also highlighted that authorities will be announcing due plans in the next few weeks concerning the Western Region Megapolis Project which is the centerpiece of the Government’s development program.

“Priorities for early action will be identified; these include light railway, elevated roads and investment in heritage buildings around the commercial center in Colombo,” he explained.

 Japan has been Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral source of concessionary foreign assistance over the years. Asian Development Bank (ADB) which is dominated by Japanese funds has been the island nation’s biggest multilateral donor. Additionally, it was also observed at the forum that high ranking Government officials will be meeting soon for in depth discussions with regard to economic policies. However there has been a dearth private investment inflow from Japan.

 Reiterating on the Government’s commitment to build Sri Lanka’s botched economic policies, Samarawickrama said: “A concerted effort is being made to improve the ease of doing business. The agency for development and agency for international trade are being established to strengthen decision making and coordination. In addition we are in the process of formulating the national trade policy framework to bring coherence and consistency to trade retail policies. This is being complemented by leveraging the trade investment nexus by signing a number of comprehensive economic partnership agreements. I urge Japanese investors to be early movers in taking advantage of the improving investment climate.”

 Elaborating on the wider market gateway potential investors will be given access to subsequent to the materialisation of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, he said:   “The upshot of all this trade agreements are that by this time next year, enterprises raised in Sri Lanka will have a preferential access of a market in excess to three billion people.  Our proximity to India, the fastest growing economy in the world, particularly the Southern states can be attractive to Japanese investors seeking to penetrate Indian markets including the value chains being generated by Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India strategy.

 Meanwhile, taking the stakeholders at the forum by surprise Minister for Special Assignments Dr. Sarath Amunugama said that Japan has to speed up its investment take off time adding that it could be disadvantages with countries that are willing to jump the leap at a faster pace.

 “When it comes to the question of speed and quality; today everyone agrees that Japanese quality is very good. Nobody can argue about that when it comes to the projects that the Japanese undertake. Any Government will be happy to collaborate with a Japanese partner because we know the end quality will be first class. However we have a problem when it comes to speed, there are other countries and investors who are much faster than you. This is a matter that is being discussed frequently among aid agencies related to Japan. This is an area that is concerning and frankly needs discussion. The lead time for projects is quite long when there are other competitors who can cut short that lead time.”

 Nevertheless, Amunugama acknowledging that stones cannot be thrown from glass houses said that there is much work to be done in the receiving end with regard to speeding up Sri Lanka’s procurement processes.

“However, as far as Sri Lanka is concerned the problem of speed is not only the problem of the investor; it’s also the problem of the receiver. We also have to straight-line our investment apparatus ,thus the investor and local authorities will be ramped up to act fast and get that project off the ground.”

 Moreover he observed that Japanese investors will find an attractive proposition in the unstirred eastern land mass of the country which is expected to be rich with minerals with a commercial value.

“In the east coast of Sri Lanka we have yet to do a full survey on the mineral resources. Japan has helped us during the last three decades to develop some of these resources in the east coast. I think it would be true to say that even the basic industries that grow out of local minerals have been sponsored by Japan. But now we can go to a higher level. Six years have lapsed since the war and I know minerals are one area Japanese investors will be very eager to ponder on. They will have to do the basic excavation and research,” he noted.