Norway keen to harness emerging business potential in Sri Lanka

The Norwegian Embassy in Colombo organised a business interaction event under the theme -Norway - Sri Lanka Business Community Interaction– Harnessing Emerging Opportunities. The interaction event was held recently in Colombo with the participation of Norwegian businesses in Sri Lanka and the region with top-level heads corporates in Sri Lanka.

A panel discussion took place with the participation of Ministers for Development Strategy and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama and Sujeewa Senasinghe, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Harsha De Silva, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Secretary General, Mangala P.B. Yapa and Tom Albrigtsen from Advance Business Partner AS, Norway.

The objective of the business interaction event was to express Norway’s renewed business cooperation with Sri Lanka to a wider audience comprising top-level corporate heads, bureaucrats and senior government officials.

Opening the business interaction Ambassador Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther outlined areas for possible Norwegian business engagement. The key sectors where Norway possesses expertise and comparative advantage could be:

•  Oil and Gas
•  Marine and Maritime sector including Aquaculture and Offshore Fish Farming
•  Energy – Mainly renewable energy (Solar, Hydro and Wind)
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 

Minister Malik Samarawickrama opened the panel discussion with a brief note highlighting Norway’s engagement in Sri Lanka recalling the financial aid for economic development for a long time. He also identified sectors of priority for the government that matched with Norwegian comparative advantage over others and competitiveness in technology and skills.  Oil and Gas and the energy sector are recognised to be important sectors for collaboration with Norway. 

The panel discussion focussed on many issues and some of them highlighted here.

•  Land ownership for Foreign Direct Investment is crucial and current laws are less supportive. The Ministers in the panel recognised the importance and assured that the government will undertake reforms appropriately. 
•  The Deputy Foreign Minister underscored the importance of aligning foreign policy towards economic policy. The foreign office staff here and abroad will be provided with required tools and training to achieve targeted FDI.  
•  The Board of Investment represented by its Chairman responding to the comments by a participant, pointed out that BOI is ready to assist the business community and urged it to engage with the BOI. He further said that the delays and weaknesses if there are should be overcome by working together with the business community. 

* The discussion also highlighted the importance of engaging the diaspora for investment and reversing the brain drain. Deputy Foreign Minister speaking at the event pointed out that Sri Lanka is now in a better position to integrate with the world communities by demonstrating good governance and working on necessary reforms. It will further promote investment and strengthen businesses relations with the diaspora and others. 

At the conclusion, the Ambassador presented two Norwegian IT companies IPER-Fidenz and Participant Pvt. Ltd with their registration certificates obtained from the Registrar of Companies to operate in Sri Lanka. 

The Embassy signifies the event as a good start for a broader and meaningful engagement with business sector in Sri Lanka the that will help in facilitating new Norwegian ventures in Sri Lanka.