Top investors pledge support to Sri Lanka

by Surekha GALAGODA

Peace and stability ushered in by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa led government is wooing international investors to look at Sri Lanka as a growth led economy.

This has led to many top level investors from around the world visiting Sri Lanka and also pledging their support to see the country reach a double digit growth within the next few years, said Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris.

He was addressing the 31st national conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. He said that General Electric Company has pledged that they will invest their pension funds in Sri Lanka, while the world famous Genus Funs has started to invest in the bluechip John Keells Holdings.

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, one of the world's most respected hotel companies, currently owns and/or manages 68 hotels under the Shangri-La and Traders brands, with rooms inventory of over 30,000 will open two hotels in Sri Lanka.

Professor Peiris said that one hotel will be in Colombo while the other will be down south. The group has a substantial development pipeline, with projects in Austria, Canada, mainland China, France, India, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Mongolia, Russia, Qatar, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

He said that Vice Chairman and Managing Director Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd Anand G. Mahindra during his recent visit to Sri Lanka said that he is interested in investing in the leisure sector.

Incidentally many international magazines have rated Sri Lanka as the best destination to visit and it can be seen from the increase in arrivals.

Prof. Peiris requested all in the private sector to take the maximum benefits using the potential the country has and said that the way forward is through a productive partnership between the private sector and the government.