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Lanka would be a profitable place to invest - Ansell CEO

With the expectation of an early settlement to the ethnic conflict, Sri Lanka would be a profitable place to invest said the CEO and Managing Director of Ansell, Harry Boon, to US Business leaders on Tuesday.

Speaking on the theme, "the experience of a US investor in Sri Lanka," representing Ansell, one of the world's leading producers of rubber gloves for medical and industrial hand protection, whose headquarters have been relocated from Australia to New Jersey, Boon said, his company that had commenced operations in Sri Lanka since the late 1980's, had lost only three days' production in this entire period.

Ansell has investments of over $ 50 million in Sri Lanka and provides direct employment to 1,800 and indirect employment to over 5,000 persons.

Boon was addressing an Investment Roundtable organized by the US Chamber of Commerce titled "Sri Lanka-Gateway to South Asia", held as an integral part of the Second Meeting of the Joint Council established under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), of which the formal meeting was held in Washington DC on March 25.

Deputy US Trade Representative Jon Huntsman in his address emphasized that "the US had great confidence in Sri Lanka, and was taking its economic relations with the country very seriously".

He said this was reflected in the decision taken by the US Government in July 2002 to sign the only Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) the US had signed with a South Asian country, with Sri Lanka, during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to Washington DC.

Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy, Investment Promotion and Constitutional Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris addressing the gathering said "the increased interest by US Business Leaders augers well for Sri Lanka". The Minister said anyone visiting Sri Lanka today would be struck by "The mood of expectancy in the island", as after two decades of conflict "for 15 months the country had enjoyed the benefits of peace and stability and there was the feeling that there was light at the end of the tunnel," Prof. Peiris said.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake in his address drew attention to "the improvement that had been manifest in the economic indicators of the country, since the ceasefire took effect in February 2002." He said "Sri Lanka had since seen $ 240 million in investments, which was the highest in ten years".

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