World moving towards interdependent economies

Anjana Samarasinghe

Globalisation has created immense opportunities for the entrepreneurs through facilitating cross border trading and investments, said Chairman and Managing Director of Laugfs Holding W.K.H Wegapitiya.

He was speaking at the national launching of "Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year 2007" organised by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka FCCISL held yesterday.

Wegapitiya who was the Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of 2006 said that today the world is moving towards more integrated and interdependent economies. The new world economy invites domestic entrepreneurs to the newly open markets. However Sri Lankan entrepreneurs face greater challenges due to highly volatile business environment in the country.

Though Sri Lanka is located next to India which has become one of the rapidly developing economies in the world, we are still lagging behind. High inflation rate, high interest rates and corruption are some of the major barriers local entrepreneurs are facing he said.

In Sri Lanka we are not united as Sri Lankans and this is a major drawback for our country in developing the economy. It is important to recognise successful entrepreneurs through awards schemes like this he said.

President of the FCCISL Nawaz Rajabdeen said that the main objective of organising this award ceremony is to recognise innovative entrepreneurs in the country and reward them for their contribution to economic development.

This awards programme is staged at two levels, firstly at the provincial level where regional entrepreneurs are recognised at regional award ceremonies held in every province, followed by the national event which will be held in December.