The 6th EU- Sri Lanka investor dialogue was held at the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade recently.
Many of the earlier outstanding matters had been resolved through dialogue and the joint efforts of the Sri Lanka and EU authorities.
“We have managed to resolve many of the issues that existed between Sri Lanka and European Union,” Tun Lai Margue, ambassador of the European Union said in a statement.
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“Among the matters which were discussed was the need to always ensure transparency when it comes to tendering procedures.”
He said it was very important to build up confidence in the European Union for Sri Lanka.
“It is also factor that impacts significantly on considerably the attraction of FDI inflows to a country.”
“We are making an effort on our side to clear all issues. We have made considerable progress in resolving outstanding issues and building up our relations with the European Union on a solid foundation.” Malik Samarawickrama, minister of Development Strategies and International Trade said.
Also attending sessions was Chandanie Wijewardena, secretary Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Duminda Ariyasinghe, director general of the BOI and Mangala Yapa, Board Member of the BOI.
Other matters for discussion included issues relating to specific companies such as payments of dues and the acceptance by Sri Lanka of classifications of products of the European Union such as the term “energy”on food and drinks labels as well as colour coding to identify sugar levels in food and beverage products.
In the period 2005 – 2016, EU enterprises operating under BOI invested an estimated US 2.5 billion dollers in Sri Lanka.
The bulk sectors for investment were manufacturing (other than textile and apparel) valued at US 557 million dollars; textile and apparel manufacture (US 327 million dollars); telecommunications (US 617 million dollars): Airline services (US 325 million dollars); and power generation (US 255 million dollars).
The leading European Union countries in terms of FDI to Sri Lanka are the United Kingdom with 90 projects under BOI (of which 54 exporters), Germany (42 projects, 31 exporters), the Netherlands (29 projects, 14 exporters), Sweden (20 projects, 13 exporters) Italy (18 projects, 14 exporters, France (13 projects, 10 exporters) and Belgium (10 projects of which 6 exporters).
