More Indian investors to invest here

Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range

Export Development and International Trade Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris yesterday told Parliament that the top 32 Indian investors have pledged to invest in Sri Lanka.

The Minister has met with leading American companies active in India at the official residence of Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in India, Romesh Jayasinghe. Among the entrepreneurs were the largest Indian company owners and businessmen and they inquired the possibility of coming to Sri Lanka and invest in a wide range of fields of economic activity, including manufacturing, food processing, information technology, banking, railways and the energy sector, he said.

The Minister said the defeat of terrorism has removed the basic impediment which prevented Sri Lanka from achieving its full economic potential.

"The writ of the Government elected by the people now runs throughout the country after many decades," he noted.

Minister Prof. Peiris was presenting orders made under section 14(1) of Sri Lanka Export Development Board Act, No. 40 of 1979 relating to Cess levy for the approval of the House. Indian entrepreneurs have fully realised that the peace and political stability in Sri Lanka are durable and long lasting.

Therefore, they want to capitalise on this situation and to invest in the local market," the Minister explained.

There is a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. It has provided substantial advantages accruing to foreign companies investing in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the Minister also dealt with the role of the BOI in promoting and facilitating investment in the country.