To develop regional economies for a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka; YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU

By Chandani Jayatileke

The Business for Peace Alliance (BPA), Sri Lanka’s network of regional business chambers of commerce and the UK-Sri Lanka Business Council in London have come together to encourage business ventures between the Sri Lankan Diaspora in the UK and the regional business chambers of Sri Lanka. This initiative is to enhance understanding and goodwill among all Sri Lankans irrespective of their ethnicity, community, religion and social status and mobilize collective efforts towards developing regional economies. Subsequently, the BPA plans to hold an International Investment Symposium in Colombo followed by several exploration visits to the regions in June, 2009.

Colombo (SRI LANKA) - In economic development terms, Sri Lanka's regional economies continue to lag behind national average, although the regions contribute immensely to the growth of the national economy. This can be attributed to many reasons ranging from poor road network, lack of know-how, poor flow of investments, lack of higher educational facilities to unequal distribution of resources.

“Investing in regions”, is a powerful tool in bringing people and cultures together and creating peaceful co-existence and understanding among themselves. It gives the opportunity to the families of different communities to work together and improve their own livelihoods. At the same time they get an opportunity to contribute their labour to develop their own economies and take ownership and pride in the development process of the regions they live in. Therefore, it is important to continue to encourage new investments in the regions.

This is exactly what the Business for Peace Alliance (BPA) and the UK-Sri Lanka Business Council are planning to do through the 'Invest in Sri Lanka' symposium.

Explaining the rationale behind this concept, Chairman BPA/Director Hambantota Chamber of Commerce, Suresh de Mel said there had never been better time to invest in Sri Lanka than now. "Besides, this is the ideal time for the non resident Sri Lankans to join the regional entrepreneurs to form joint businesses," he said.

Sri Lanka Government is now taking many measures to strive for the stability of the country's financial sectors and promote sound and rapid economic growth, especially the development of the war-battered Northern and Eastern provinces. At the same time the Government also encourages new investments into the other regions with a gamut of incentives for such investments.

In the recent past all Sri Lankans have begun to see light at the end of the tunnel, following the security improvements in the north and the east in the country. Now the war-affected regions need development; men and women need work; their children need education facilities; which means, the regions have plenty of investment opportunities.

"To help realise the dreams of the youth in our regions and to achieve the full potential of this newly-found 'peace and freedom', as an organisation which promotes peace through business, we believe in creating for a for business-interested communities to meet," Mr. de Mel said.

The BPA currently is implementing a project called “BizPAct” to encourage non-resident Sri Lankans and foreign investors to invest in joint ventures with the regional business community.

"The proposed joint ventures will be profitable businesses, and will also facilitate nation building and foster communal harmony among diverse communities in the regions," says Secretary General BPA, Ms. Manique Mendis.

The symposium aims to bring together non resident Sri Lankans from all over the world and foreign investors who are “friends of Sri Lanka” with the regional business community and the key officials of the Government and the private sector organizations which are engaged in international trade and commerce of Sri Lanka, Ms. Mendis adds.

The regional chamber chiefs say they are committed to promote successful economic development and to improve the economic welfare of the regions.

“The top down Colombo centric approach to regional development has not been successful. As people who live in the regions we are aware of the needs in the regions and the practices and tools that suit the regions. As such, we are keen to initiate a “bottom up approach” to the development of our regions and participate directly in the development process in along side policy makers and others based in Colombo as well as the international community”, maintain the regional business leaders.

"Our regions have various natural resources and good human capital. Our youth are educated; they are skillful, so that they can easily be trained in any employment sector. What we need is the support for implementing joint business ventures and disseminating expertise and knowledge in the regions," say the Chamber chiefs.

They say that it's high time that the "Colombo-based development" reached the regions. Already the regional chambers have identified a series of projects for joint ventures, depending on their capacities and natural and human resources

Vice Chair BPA/Director Vavuniya Chamber of Commerce, K.C.Suwarnaraj says this is the ideal time to bring in new investments to the Northern Province. "We really need the support of the Sri Lankans domiciled overseas and other international friends to develop our economies and provide employment opportunities to our youth," he says.

"In my opinion, we need a good road network to develop north-south businesses. That means there are opportunities for building highways such as the Medawachchiya-Jaffna highway. This can be done as a BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) project," he says.

There are also opportunities to develop the fishing industry, educational institutions, and industrial zones and to set up an economic centre in Vavuniya like that of Dambulla to increase north/south business activities and the peoples' interaction.

Mr. Suwarnaraj is eager to meet the participants of the symposium so that he could provide them more first hand information on joint venture activities.

We also spoke to Mr. C.J.Gunaseela - Director BPA/Past Chairman Sabaragamuva Chamber to find out the investment opportunities in the Sabaragamuwa Province.

As many of you know, Sabaragamuwa is famous for its precious gemstones. But unfortunately, Sabaragamuwa is yet to harness the full potential of its gem and jewellery sector. There are many lucrative opportunities in the gem business such as cutting and polishing, lapidary and marketing of rough gems. Sabaragamuwa also offers diverse tourism attractions ranging from eco tourism sites, temples and ancient cultural sites, tea estates to gem mining sites. However, infrastructure and a marketing plan for tourism are yet to be developed.

"We need to step up the production standards in the region and export our products so that many youth will be able to find employment opportunities in the region itself," Mr. Gunaseela says.

Other investment areas include handicraft, clay industry, agro-based products, tea and rubber industry, educational services etc.

Sarath Kahapalaarachchi - Director BPA/Past Chairman Kalutara District Chamber of Commerce hopes that BPA efforts to develop regional economies will soon be successful.

"Kalutara is a very prosperous area with many resources. Although located close to Colombo, Kalutara has not achieved the expected growth in the economy. Therefore, we need to get more investments to develop the region's economy," he says.

Many wouldn't know that Kalutara district is the main base of ceramic clay powder used for the ceramic-ware industry in Sri Lanka. However, it is sad to note there is no ceramic-ware production unit in the district. "We export it to Dankotuwa and Matale where there are big ceramic factories. So now it's time to set up a ceramic ware factory in Kalutara," he says.

"Kalutara community is rich in educated youth. But, their knowledge is being wasted and they are frustrated due to non-availability of sufficient job opportunities. This is why we need to invest in joint ventures and create more jobs," he says.

"I am sure there are lots of well-established professionals who are originally from our district, in the UK. We would like at least some of them to join us in our efforts of creating a better future for our people," Mr. Kahapalaarachchi says.

Director BPA/Trincomalee District Chamber of Commerce, Prof. K. Thiruchelvam said that the East has reawakened after a bitter conflict of nearly three decades. "There is no war here now. People here need a new life; they need opportunities to work and educate their children. "Therefore, this is the best time to support our people by way of investing in joint ventures," he says.

Prof. Thiru says that the Eastern Province is attractive as ever for business and tourism. As for business there are joint venture opportunities for fresh milk products, poultry feed, fish and fish products, mineral water bottling plants, rice and other agricultural products and tourism.

"We need to do a lot of propaganda for tourism in the East, which is famous for its golden beaches. There is a great need to resurrect the tourism industry in our region."

Prof, Thiru also says if there are joint venture businesses in the area, it will help provide employment opportunities for the youth. They need to be properly guided and trained in skills and vocations so that the unemployment issue could be addressed.

"Therefore, we want to invite the Diaspora to visit our region and learn about the business opportunities by themselves. We need their support to rebuild our region," he says.

We also spoke with Mr. Jay Perera, Chairman of the UK-Sri Lanka Business Council in London, who is keen on getting the support of the non resident Sri Lankans and international friends of Sri Lanka to develop Sri Lanka's regional economies irrespective of their many differences.

"This will be a great way to create peace among our people. Our Council has members of all Sri Lankan communities - Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher people. We work in harmony as Sri Lankans and all of us have a goal to achieve; that's why we want to do something tangible for Sri Lanka," says Mr. Perera.

The Council members have already discussed about investing in joint ventures in Sri Lanka as a way to support the regional communities as well as to bring peoples of different communities together. "We want to do business and encourage peace among our people," Mr. Perera says with enthusiasm.

In England, Mr. Perera says, there are large number of retail outlets run by Sri Lankans, selling Sri Lankan food and goodies. "These businesses sell products made in Sri Lanka irrespective of its original owner or the breed. They are purchased by everybody and this is a perfect example to explain that business has no boundaries; be it breed or caste. Therefore, we are keen to work as "one community" and extend our support to the BPA and the regional chambers to develop business and social stability in Sri Lanka," he says.

He adds that their Council plans to bring down a delegation of investors to the forthcoming symposium. "We want to initiate a dialogue with the Government so that there will be no red tape for the investors. We need to strengthen our relations with the BPA and the regional Chambers. During this visit we want to visit some of the regions and gather first hand experience about investment opportunities and the environment for new businesses. We need to begin somewhere; this is only a start. We are keen on participating at the symposium," Mr. Perera says. (ENDS)