Ministers at Swiss-Sri Lanka Investment Forum

Friday, 5 July 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion Faiszer Musthapha participated at the Swiss-Sri Lanka Investment Forum held in Zurich recently, organised by the Swiss-Asian Chamber of Commerce. As one of the key note speakers at the forum, Musthapha spoke on the topic of increased cooperation with regard to investments, capital flow and technology transfer between Switzerland, European countries and Sri Lanka. The forum focused on three areas, fundamentally important to Sri Lanka which was water (drinking water, sewerage treatment), renewable energy and sustainable tourism. Minster of Environment and Renewable Energy Susil Premajayantha also participated at this forum. The forum played host to many on-going business dialogues to address the needs of opportunities and strategies for increased foreign direct investment from Europe to Sri Lanka. Also present at the forum were Sri Lankan Government officials, representatives of the Swiss investment community as well as industry representatives and private business developers.

Deputy Minister Musthapha demonstrated examples of successful direct investments with European firms already in Sri Lanka. He pointed toward the great advances Sri Lanka has made to create policies and support mechanisms with the goal of making life easy for foreign capital investment such as no limitations and complications with regards to repatriation of profits, and the organisation of the BOI designed to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ for all the needs of industries and investors seeking engagements with Sri Lanka. Musthapha conveyed the importance of Sri Lanka’s openness and interest to find more ways to cooperate with the West, also with regard to infrastructure such as energy. During this interactive forum, Philipp Sieber-Gasser representing the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Market (SIEFM) of the Government of Switzerland, acknowledged the remarkable economic progress Sri Lanka has made in the past years and that they have now declared Sri Lanka as a target investment country. He further said that they would look closely at evolving investment opportunities. During the session which addressed sustainable tourism, Deputy Minister Musthapha pointed out Sri Lanka’s goal to add 36,000 hotel rooms by 2016. Musthapha explained that during the three decades of war, Sri Lanka was forgotten by the world. He said the country seeks to enable more tourism by offering accommodations for all types of visitors. Deputy Minister Musthapha and Minister Premajayantha emphasised that Sri Lanka intends to develop more tourism in environmentally sustainable ways.