Dialogue to boost investor confidence

Stakeholders from the public and private sectors met recently to discuss improving foreign direct investments in Sri Lanka. It was organised by the Ministry of Investment Promotion with the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.

The participants at this dialogue included the Deputy Minister of Investment Promotion, Faizer Mustapha, officials of the Board of Investment, Head of Trade, Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Roshan Lyman, representatives of EU Member States, representatives from the Small and Medium Enterprises Chamber and European companies which have already invested in Sri Lanka.

It was noted at this dialogue that a vital component of Sri Lanka's investment promotion strategy should be to retain existing foreign investments. It was also agreed that to retain such investments it was vital to have a regular dialogue between the Ministry of Investment Promotion, the European Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, the investors, other line ministries and government institutions so that the Ministry of Investment Promotion will better understand the constraints faced by investors and solve them, according to Investment Promotion Ministry sources.

Such a platform for investor and government dialogue would boost investor confidence and goodwill and attract new investments to the country, the sources said.

Minister Faizer Mustapha said, "Since taking office I have been continuously working towards attracting foreign investments. I believe that there should be an increased focus on re-establishing our traditional links. We must work collectively to achieve this. We must first satisfy the investors who are already here. Investment is by word of mouth and that is the strongest form of investment promotion."

"I think we should have a dialogue and continuously address issues. Sri Lanka has and will remain committed to retaining foreign investment in the country," he said.

Head of Trade of the Delegation of the European Union, Roshan Lyman said, "I met the Minister at the launch of the Investor Dialogue organised by the ECCSL a couple of months ago where he promised to address specific issues faced by European Investors and the Minister has kept his promise.

It was also encouraging to hear from the Minister that he intended to continue this dialogue on a regular basis on a sector by sector basis."

He said European investors expected consistency in policy framework, protection from expropriation, free availability of raw materials at the investment location, proximity to key markets and privileged access to such markets. "Finally as a majority of the EU companies are SMEs they tend to choose investment locations that encourage SME investments."

Therefore, as long as these issues are addressed by countries, European investors will have confidence in investing. The fact that Sri Lanka has a Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with India and is exploring the possibility of signing a FTA with China, would attract investors who could export to these bigger markets through the FTAs.

Lyman said that the BOI's one-stop-shop concept was commendable and a good communication strategy that reminds investors, from time-to-time, especially those abroad, about the services offered by BOI and other institutions would be useful.