British High Commissioner visits Hambantota District

The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka John Rankin visited Hambantota on the 5 and 6 April 2011.

The High Commissioner was very keen on visiting some of the ongoing development projects in view of the upcoming commonwealth Games and Sri Lanka’s bid to promote Hambantota. The Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) facilitated British High Commissioner’s visit and introduced them to various development projects in Hambantota.  

High Commissioner visited Cricket Stadium, Airport, Seaport, upcoming Asian beach site, proposed hotel sites in the Hambantota District and the District Secretariat for a courtesy meeting with the District Secretary R.M.D.B. Meegasmulla.

During the visit the High Commissioner took the opportunity to exchange views and obtain background knowledge and information about HDCC, its activities and the development projects taking place in the Hambantota District.   

HDCC organised a luncheon meeting and it was represented by the President - Kumara Jayasinghe, Senior Vice President - lhaj M. Shaheed Usuph, Lanka Fishing Flies Pvt Ltd, HNB and Seylan Bank, Vinseth Engineering Ltd, Kane Apparel Ltd and the senior management such as Azmi Thassim, Krishanthi Weerasinghe and Fazlim Batcha of HDCC.  

High Commissioner said: “I am looking forward to doing my modest bit to promote and build bilateral relations between UK and Sri Lanka and also we want to increase investment opportunities. “

“Today, with the dawn of peace, we are seeing a great momentum in the interest to trade and invest in Sri Lanka. The frequency of outward business delegations to Sri Lanka has increased. UK is the second largest investor in Sri Lanka as the second major overseas buyer,” the High Commissioner added during the meeting with HDCC.

High Commissioner is very keen to provide technical support for the Hambantota District in particular and to the Southern Region in general through British Council to enhance the English Language Skills.

He also visited Fathuma Nisreen, a beneficiary of the Hambantota Youth Business Programme of HDCC, who was the winner of the YBI Entrepreneur competition in 2010.