First Swiss-Sri Lanka Business and Investment Fora in Geneva, Zurich:

Use right time and right opportunity -Lankan envoy

The first Swiss-Sri Lanka Business and Investment Forums were held in Geneva and Zurich recently. The events were organised by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Berlin/Germany with accreditation in Switzerland in coordination with the Swiss Asian Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland. This was an initiative to showcase Sri Lanka's investment and trade potentials to Swiss-based industrialists, financial houses and businessmen after the end of the long conflict on the island.

The prime objective of both organisers of the event was to harness the prevailing business interests on Sri Lanka among the business community in Switzerland towards the exposure of the existing Sri Lanka's trade and investment potentials. The success of the events could be witnessed due to the overwhelming participation of the Swiss based business communities in the two forums and their interactions during the forums.

In the opening address of the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Switzerland, Sarath Kongahage welcomed all participants and gave an outline of the context, in which the forums were timely organised.

He emphasized that the relationship between Sri Lanka and Switzerland has been long, very cordial and productive over the years. Some of the leading commercial establishments and companies with more than 100 years of history in Sri Lanka have their origins in Switzerland.

As Sri Lanka enters into a new economic era with stability, growth and development today, the forums of this nature would be the gateway to explore the means to enhance our relationship, so that both countries could benefit by the new and timely opportunities created. The Sri Lankan economy grew by 8.3 percent in the year 2011 following eight percent growth in 2010, when many countries faced an economic slow down.

He invited all the Swiss-based investors and businessmen to make use of the right time and right opportunity to be a partner in the development process of Sri Lanka. Finally the Ambassador thanked the Swiss Foreign Office and the Swiss Asian Chamber of Commerce for the coordination of the two forums, which he had requested during the presentation of his credentials in Switzerland.

The guest of honour Minister of Labour and Labour Relations Gamini Lokuge,reiterated the commitment of the government in developing the entire country with all development partner countries and their private sectors and invited the participants to make use of the right time to invest and do business with Sri Lanka.

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Berlin has already made the appropriate arrangements for the few new business initiatives with the stakeholders in Switzerland, which will be followed up in coordination with the Sri Lankan Government investment regulatory agencies.