President tells South Korean business leaders:

SL, today a robust new investment destination

‘Be a partner in the prosperous march of our nation’:

Sri Lanka today is able to provide a robust new investment destination as a frontier country to the rest of the world, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday.

“All our economic sectors, agriculture, industries and services are performing well and we are today able to provide a robust new investment destination as a frontier country to the rest of the world. In that background, many investors realise that Sri Lanka is well poised to offer a safe and sound investment opportunity to its many foreign investors and are working closely with many of our own companies to strike new relationships that are of mutual benefit,” President Rajapaksa said.

He was delivering the keynote address at the official business luncheon co-hosted by four major Korean companies - Kbiz, KCCI, FKI and KITA.

“The main areas in which we are looking forward to welcoming new investments are in the fields of infrastructure, port related activities, aviation services, knowledge based industries, tourism and leisure industry and commercial services,” President Rajapaksa said.

“In all these investment decisions, our Board of Investment will be able to assist you in choosing and implementing your projects and we therefore, invite you to make use of these opportunities. We will maintain our investor protection policies, which will ensure that those who invest in our country would have their investments protected by law,” the President said.

“The government will implement the required policies so that you could benefit by continuous sound macro fundamentals that would support the growth momentum and stability of our nation,” he said.

The full text of the speech:

“I am pleased to be here today to share a few thoughts about the Sri Lankan economy with the key business persons of Korea.

The relationship between Sri Lanka and Korea has been long, cordial and productive and over the past many years, the two countries have benefitted by the economic cooperation between businesses in our respective countries. Today, when Sri Lanka enters a new economic era with stability, growth and development, I believe it is the right time for us to step up our relationship, so the people of both countries could benefit by the new opportunities available in our land.

“The Sri Lankan economy grew by 8.3 percent in 2011, following an eight percent growth in 2010. This was the first time that Sri Lanka recorded an economic growth of over eight percent in two consecutive years. Such an achievement was possible because we were able to successfully end the three decade terrorism conflict in our country and provide a new platform for the Sri Lanka economy to grow and prosper. This achievement is all the more significant because, it was recorded at a time when many countries have been affected by the serious effects of the euro zone crisis and other macro economic problems, which has pulled back their economies and drastically damaged their financial systems.

“Over the past several years, our economic policies and programmes have led to our per capita income rising sharply, and at the same time, our unemployment level reaching a very low level. Incidence of poverty also took a sharp drop. At the same time, our inflation levels were maintained at low levels for over three consecutive years. Further, the living standards of our people improved significantly, with wide spread and regional infrastructure development taking an important place in our economic agenda. “In the meantime, all our economic sectors, agriculture, industries and services are performing well, and we are today able to provide a robust new investment destination as a frontier country to the rest of the world. In that background, many investors realise that Sri Lanka is well poised to offer a safe and sound investment opportunity to its many foreign investors and are working closely with many of our own companies to strike new relationships that are of mutual benefit. The main areas in which we are looking forward to welcoming new investments are in the fields of infrastructure, port related activities, aviation services, knowledge based industries, tourism and leisure industry and commercial services.

“In all these investment decisions, our Board of Investment will be able to assist you in choosing and implementing your projects and we therefore, invite you to make use of these opportunities. Also in order to give you peace of mind, we will maintain our investor protection policies, which will ensure that those who invest in our country would have their investments protected by law. We would implement the required policies so that you could benefit by continuous sound macro fundamentals that would support the growth momentum and stability of our nation.

“In that regard, let me also assure you that all our Sri Lankan economic authorities are working hard to deliver such a sound macro platform and a competitive environment so that all economic stakeholders in our nation would continue to have confidence in our economy and country.

“Finally, let me invite all of you to visit Sri Lanka, invest in Sri Lanka and to be a partner in the prosperous march of our nation. I can confidently assure you that you will truly be happy that you took such a decision.”