Making the most of his time at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday conducted a slew of meetings with top industry moguls and politicians to market Sri Lanka to the world as an attractive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination.
Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois holding discussions with the Sri Lankan delegation in Davos led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
His key meetings included discussions with Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois on formulating a technology agreement with Sri Lanka that would focus on introducing next generation technology, improve cyber security and expand local IT knowledge.
Courtois has agreed to dispatch a delegation from his company to Sri Lanka for discussions on the proposed agreement in the near future, a press statement released by the Prime Minister’s office noted.
“Both sides discussed the technological future of Sri Lanka and how education, health and finance sectors can be developed through access to advanced technology,” the statement noted. The aim of the technology agreement would be to enable Sri Lankans to access information directly, thereby improving their capacity to be productive members of society, the release added.
Courtois and Wickremesinghe also discussed the possibility of giving access to new technology to Sri Lankans at less cost.
The Prime Minister also met Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao who praised the good governance advances made in Sri Lanka and stated future funding assistance would be considered by the monetary institution.
Detailed discussions on continued expertise sharing, grants and loans to Sri Lanka would be discussed during Nakao’s next visit to Colombo in February.
“Sri Lanka’s large debt burden was discussed between the parties and both sides agreed to consider opportunities to refinance the loans. Additional investment in education and health also featured in the meeting with focus on improving the country’s human development,” the statement said.
During another meeting with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and the Sri Lankan delegation an agreement was made to establish a special committee to improve tourism and cultural relations between the two regions.
The Government’s plans to develop a tourism zone by increasing ties with Andhra Pradesh and South India were explored at the meeting and Wickremesinghe plans to continue discussions on greater engagement with Andhra Pradesh during upcoming talks with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.
The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte also expressed interest in considering investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. Special attention would be paid to agriculture and water management as areas the Netherlands have expertise in along with using Dutch knowledge to battle Sri Lanka’s chronic kidney disease.
Wickremesinghe also appealed to Rutte to funnel Netherlands expertise to increase agriculture productivity in Sri Lanka and increase agri-based exports. In response Rutte had agreed to send a delegation to Colombo to look into investment opportunities. Netherlands-based electronics multinational Phillips has already begun discussions with Sri Lanka to manufacture a low cost street lamp factory.
- http://www.ft.lk/article/520743/Opening-doors-to-the-world
PM Ranil Wickremesinghe – first SL political leader to attend Davos meeting
PM Ranil Wickremesinghe left the country to attend the 46th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, January 19.
According to a statement, this is the first time that a Sri Lankan political leader has been invited to attend the Davos meeting. The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016 will be held from January 20 – 23.
The Prime Minister’s Office notes that the forum will help attract international investors to Sri Lanka. The office added that new trends of the world economy will be discussed in detail at the forum, which will witness the participation of over 40 heads of state and 2500 economists.
Deputy FM dispels allegations of agreement with India endangering Sri Lanka IT sector
Jan 22, Colombo: Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva has dismissed allegations that the new trade agreement to be entered into with India open up Sri Lanka's IT sector to Indians and endanger the jobs of Sri Lankan IT professionals.
The Deputy Minister responding to the allegations in a television program on the Hiru TV assured that the government's new soon-to-be-entered into agreement with India does not pose a threat to the Sri Lankan IT job market.
He asserted that there is no chance of Indian IT professionals opening up businesses in Sri Lanka and threatening local businesses since that mode of trade is not included in the proposed agreement.
The Deputy Minister explained that according to the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) there are four modes of international service trade, namely cross-border trade, consumption abroad, commercial presence, and presence of natural persons, and the first three modes have already been in operation in the IT sector.
He said the opposition to the agreement comes from the fear that fourth mode where a professional can come to Sri Lanka and establish his services, will be in the agreement with India.
However, the Minister asserted that the agreement will not include the fourth mode of trade and therefore, there is no possibility of Indian professionals threatening Sri Lankan businesses.
- http://www.colombopage.com/archive_16A/Jan23_1453487824CH.php
හොංකොං ඩුබායි නගර මෙන් කොළඹ වරාය නගරයද විශේෂ නීති රීති ක්රියාත්මක ආර්ථික මූල්ය කලාපයක් වේ -අගමැති රනිල් ජර්මන් රූපවාහිනියකට කියයි
හොංකොං සහ ඩුබායි නගර අනුගමනය කරන විශේෂ නීතිරීති සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් කොළඹ වරාය නගර කලාපයටද ආවේනික විශේෂිත නීතිරීති සම්පාදනය කරමින් එය ආර්ථික හා මූල්ය කලාපයක් ලෙස සංවර්ධනය කරන බව අගමැති රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ඩොයිෂවෙලා ජර්මානු රූපවාහිනී ආයතනය සමග සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකට සහභාගී වෙමින් පවසා තිබේ.
වික්රමසිංහ මහතා මේ අදහස් පළ කළේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ ඩවොස් නුවර ලෝක ආර්ථික සමුළුවට සහභාගී වී සිටින අවස්ථාවේදී ය.
“අපේ අරමුණ ශ්රී ලංකාව ආසියාවේ ආර්ථික කේන්ද්රස්ථානයක් ලෙස වර්ධනය කිරීමයි. ඊට අවශ්ය පදනම දැන් අප සකස් කරමින් සිටිනවා. අපේ රටේ දරුවන්ට යහපත් අනාගතයක්, වැඩිහිටියන්ට ආරක්ෂිත සමාජයක් ගොඩ නැංවිය හැක්කේ ක්රමවත් හා වේගවත් ආර්ථික වර්ධනයක් ඔස්සේ පමණයි. ඒ නිසා අප රට පුරා කර්මාන්ත සංවර්ධන අධිකලාප 40 ක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර තියෙනවා. ඒ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන කලාප විශේෂිත ක්ෂේත්රයන් සඳහා වෙන් කෙරෙනවා.“ යි ඔහු පැවසීය.
ශ්රී ලංකාවට පළමුවරට ලැබුණු ලෝක ආර්ථික සමුළුවට සහභාගී වීමේ අවස්ථාව උපරිම වශයෙන් භාවිතා කරමින රටට විශාල වාසි ගෙන ඒමට අගමැතිවරයා ක්රියා කරමින් සිටී.
- http://www.lankaenews.com/news/3391/si
Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois holding discussions with the Sri Lankan delegation in Davos led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
His key meetings included discussions with Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois on formulating a technology agreement with Sri Lanka that would focus on introducing next generation technology, improve cyber security and expand local IT knowledge.
Courtois has agreed to dispatch a delegation from his company to Sri Lanka for discussions on the proposed agreement in the near future, a press statement released by the Prime Minister’s office noted.
“Both sides discussed the technological future of Sri Lanka and how education, health and finance sectors can be developed through access to advanced technology,” the statement noted. The aim of the technology agreement would be to enable Sri Lankans to access information directly, thereby improving their capacity to be productive members of society, the release added.
Courtois and Wickremesinghe also discussed the possibility of giving access to new technology to Sri Lankans at less cost.
The Prime Minister also met Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao who praised the good governance advances made in Sri Lanka and stated future funding assistance would be considered by the monetary institution.
Detailed discussions on continued expertise sharing, grants and loans to Sri Lanka would be discussed during Nakao’s next visit to Colombo in February.
“Sri Lanka’s large debt burden was discussed between the parties and both sides agreed to consider opportunities to refinance the loans. Additional investment in education and health also featured in the meeting with focus on improving the country’s human development,” the statement said.
During another meeting with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and the Sri Lankan delegation an agreement was made to establish a special committee to improve tourism and cultural relations between the two regions.
The Government’s plans to develop a tourism zone by increasing ties with Andhra Pradesh and South India were explored at the meeting and Wickremesinghe plans to continue discussions on greater engagement with Andhra Pradesh during upcoming talks with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.
The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte also expressed interest in considering investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. Special attention would be paid to agriculture and water management as areas the Netherlands have expertise in along with using Dutch knowledge to battle Sri Lanka’s chronic kidney disease.
Wickremesinghe also appealed to Rutte to funnel Netherlands expertise to increase agriculture productivity in Sri Lanka and increase agri-based exports. In response Rutte had agreed to send a delegation to Colombo to look into investment opportunities. Netherlands-based electronics multinational Phillips has already begun discussions with Sri Lanka to manufacture a low cost street lamp factory.
- http://www.ft.lk/article/520743/Opening-doors-to-the-world
PM Ranil Wickremesinghe – first SL political leader to attend Davos meeting
PM Ranil Wickremesinghe left the country to attend the 46th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, January 19.
According to a statement, this is the first time that a Sri Lankan political leader has been invited to attend the Davos meeting. The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2016 will be held from January 20 – 23.
The Prime Minister’s Office notes that the forum will help attract international investors to Sri Lanka. The office added that new trends of the world economy will be discussed in detail at the forum, which will witness the participation of over 40 heads of state and 2500 economists.
Deputy FM dispels allegations of agreement with India endangering Sri Lanka IT sector
Jan 22, Colombo: Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva has dismissed allegations that the new trade agreement to be entered into with India open up Sri Lanka's IT sector to Indians and endanger the jobs of Sri Lankan IT professionals.
The Deputy Minister responding to the allegations in a television program on the Hiru TV assured that the government's new soon-to-be-entered into agreement with India does not pose a threat to the Sri Lankan IT job market.
He asserted that there is no chance of Indian IT professionals opening up businesses in Sri Lanka and threatening local businesses since that mode of trade is not included in the proposed agreement.
The Deputy Minister explained that according to the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) there are four modes of international service trade, namely cross-border trade, consumption abroad, commercial presence, and presence of natural persons, and the first three modes have already been in operation in the IT sector.
He said the opposition to the agreement comes from the fear that fourth mode where a professional can come to Sri Lanka and establish his services, will be in the agreement with India.
However, the Minister asserted that the agreement will not include the fourth mode of trade and therefore, there is no possibility of Indian professionals threatening Sri Lankan businesses.
- http://www.colombopage.com/archive_16A/Jan23_1453487824CH.php
හොංකොං ඩුබායි නගර මෙන් කොළඹ වරාය නගරයද විශේෂ නීති රීති ක්රියාත්මක ආර්ථික මූල්ය කලාපයක් වේ -අගමැති රනිල් ජර්මන් රූපවාහිනියකට කියයි
හොංකොං සහ ඩුබායි නගර අනුගමනය කරන විශේෂ නීතිරීති සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් කොළඹ වරාය නගර කලාපයටද ආවේනික විශේෂිත නීතිරීති සම්පාදනය කරමින් එය ආර්ථික හා මූල්ය කලාපයක් ලෙස සංවර්ධනය කරන බව අගමැති රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ඩොයිෂවෙලා ජර්මානු රූපවාහිනී ආයතනය සමග සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකට සහභාගී වෙමින් පවසා තිබේ.
වික්රමසිංහ මහතා මේ අදහස් පළ කළේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ ඩවොස් නුවර ලෝක ආර්ථික සමුළුවට සහභාගී වී සිටින අවස්ථාවේදී ය.
“අපේ අරමුණ ශ්රී ලංකාව ආසියාවේ ආර්ථික කේන්ද්රස්ථානයක් ලෙස වර්ධනය කිරීමයි. ඊට අවශ්ය පදනම දැන් අප සකස් කරමින් සිටිනවා. අපේ රටේ දරුවන්ට යහපත් අනාගතයක්, වැඩිහිටියන්ට ආරක්ෂිත සමාජයක් ගොඩ නැංවිය හැක්කේ ක්රමවත් හා වේගවත් ආර්ථික වර්ධනයක් ඔස්සේ පමණයි. ඒ නිසා අප රට පුරා කර්මාන්ත සංවර්ධන අධිකලාප 40 ක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර තියෙනවා. ඒ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධන කලාප විශේෂිත ක්ෂේත්රයන් සඳහා වෙන් කෙරෙනවා.“ යි ඔහු පැවසීය.
ශ්රී ලංකාවට පළමුවරට ලැබුණු ලෝක ආර්ථික සමුළුවට සහභාගී වීමේ අවස්ථාව උපරිම වශයෙන් භාවිතා කරමින රටට විශාල වාසි ගෙන ඒමට අගමැතිවරයා ක්රියා කරමින් සිටී.
- http://www.lankaenews.com/news/3391/si
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