PM steps up efforts to woo global political and business support for SL

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, conducted a slew of meetings with top global industry moguls and politicians to market Sri Lanka to the world as an attractive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination.

Among bilateral political and economic meetings held were those with Swiss Confederation President Schneider Ammann, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven,  Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Bahrain Prime Minister and Honorary Chairman of Bahrain Petroleum Company Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa. Separately he held a private meeting with World Economic Forum Founder Prof. Charles Schwab as well. 

During the meeting with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte he had 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 agricultural 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.

Among important meetings with multilateral donor agencies were those held with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and ADB President Takehiko Nakao. Probable support to cushion the Balance of Payments, as well as technical support to boost Tax revenue were discussed with the IMF Chief.

At the meeting with ADB Chief, he 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.

Among global business leaders met  were Virgin Group CEO Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite CEO Jean Oelwang, Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois,  Standard Chartered Bank Group CEO Bill Winters, TPG Co-Founder and Managing Partner David Bonderman, GE Hong Kong Vice Chairman John Rice, Tata Group Chairman Cyrus  Mistry and Hinduja Group Co Chair Gopichand P Hinduja. 

Separately Wickremesinghe met a delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and a group of Japanese and Swiss investors over breakfast. 

Prime Minister also found time to accommodate interviews by international media at the WEF. Among media represented were New York Times,  Dutsche Welle, Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger,  and NDTV CEO and Executive Director Vikram Chandra.

Discussions were held with Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois on formulating a technology agreement with Sri Lanka that would focus on introducing next generation technology, improving cyber security and expanding 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.

 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 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.

Courtois and Wickremesinghe also discussed the possibility of giving access to new technology to Sri Lankans at less cost. 

Meeting with Richard Branson focussed on promotion and development of the travel and tourism sector of Sri Lanka.

Netherlands-based electronics multinational Phillips has already begun discussions with Sri Lanka to set up factory to produce low cost street lamps.

Meeting with Richard Branson

Meeting with Microsoft