'Sri Lanka has much potential for rapid development'

Wijitha NAKKAWITA and Lakshmi DE SILVA

The impossible is always possible if you work hard and believe in yourself. You have much capital in Sri Lanka, your educated people.

Therefore you have much potential for rapid development, Mazowsze Region Chamber of Commerce Chairman and Poland Chamber of Commerce member, Andrszej Voigt told theDaily News in an exclusive interview yesterday.

Andrszej Voigt

Voigt on a short visit here said "President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a very pro-reform person and you have people with good education and English speaking that is important for international business.

Your President's effort at developing infrastructure such as roads and international airports is a positive one that would encourage investors to come to the country as saving time on travelling was important for investors".

He is here on the invitation of the Sri Lankan Expatriates Association Chairman Senaka Rajapakse.

"Twenty years ago we experienced a situation now you are experiencing and Poland is now one of the strongest economies of Europe with an annual macro economic growth rate of 1.9 in 2009 while other EU countries were experiencing recessive trends with negative rates of growth. About two decades back Poland had an inflation rate of 300 percent but by hard work we were able to arrest runaway inflation and bring our economy to our present level. Therefore the problems of Sri Lanka are not difficult to overcome," Voigt said.

Sri Lanka could become the next Asian Tiger in the coming ten to fifteeen years.

Though your country is an island it need not be an economic island. You have much potential for development of tourism and for that international airports that directly link other capitals with your country is important", he said.

"However a longterm national plan relying on your own resources and people and foreign aid is good but at some point the donors could influence your independence. Your people could achieve it and education is very important and people travelling abroad could learn how developed countries work.

The biggest investment of Poland, more than 50 billion US Dollars comes from the Pension Funds that are managed by the public and the private sector.

But the investment portfolios are made with extreme caution. These are some of our strategies," he said.

We think that your country too could achieve success with the right decisions made and liberalizing your currencies so that there could be a free flow to and from the country. It was only then that foreign investors would decide to invest in your country," he said.