President addresses Sri Lanka-Korea Business Forum:

‘Join Sri Lanka’s march to prosperity’

* Investor protection policies will be maintained

* Sound macro fundamentals to benefit investors

President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited the Korean business community to invest in Sri Lanka and be a partner in the march to prosperity of the nation. “I can confidently assure you that you will truly be happy you took such a decision,” the President said addressing the Sri Lanka - Korea Business Forum hosted by the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “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,” he said.

“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,” he added.

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, President Rajapaksa added.

Full text of the speech:

“I am pleased to be here at this Sri Lanka – Korea Business Forum hosted by the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to share a few thoughts about the Sri Lankan economy with key business persons of Korea. I had the opportunity to address your colleagues of 4 major business associations in Seoul, two days back.

I am also pleased to inform you that I had a very fruitful meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea on Tuesday where we discussed how the two countries could enhance trade and investment and of course tourism. I was particularly pleased to hear from the President that Sri Lankan workers in Korea are a productive group.

Since the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka placed before you many details of the Sri Lankan economy, my comments will be brief.

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.

My dear friends, the Sri Lankan economy grew by 8.3 per cent in the year 2011, following an 8 per cent growth in 2010. Such an achievement was possible because we were able to successfully end the three decade long terrorist conflict in our country, and provide a new platform for the Sri Lanka economy to grow and prosper.

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 recording 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 realize 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.

May the Triple Gem Bless you!”