Economic diplomacy a key factor in promoting Sri Lanka

By Chathuri Dissanayake

Stressing the need for economic diplomacy in order to attract investors to the country, newly-appointed Deputy Minister for National Policies and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva said that the Government had initiated a program to carry out direct promotional activities identifying specific countries and cities.

“With the help of the Board of Investments we have identified countries, cities and individuals to approach and promote the country to. We have already started this process,” De Silva said in reference to work initiated by him during his tenure at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of the Global Economy Programme by the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relation and Strategic Studies.  

According to De Silva, although diplomats have been instructed to promote a country’s brand to attract investment, they have not possessed the skill set required for such initiatives.

“Even though we told the diplomats to market Sri Lanka they don’t have the skills required. Even though we had promotional attaches from the Department of Commerce there was nothing done. During my tenure as the Foreign Minister when I did a survey to find out how many companies they have presented Sri Lanka to during the past year they said zero. If you knock on zero doors then zero doors will open for you,” he said.  

To rectify the situation, the ministry has taken the initiative to train 44 diplomats and officers from the Commerce Department at the Centre for International Development at Harvard University.

The Global Economic Programme at the LKI reflects the increasingly key role of the economic diplomacy the Minister stated, adding that the program will be able to assist the Foreign Ministry in promoting Brand Sri Lanka.

Appreciating the tie-up with Dilmah and Expolanka, two global brands from Sri Lanka, to fund the program, he said that there are many things to learn from the private sector in terms of going global. “They have taken the Sri Lankan brand to the world a lot more compared to what the Foreign Ministry officials have done,” he said.

“This is the first time that the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka has established a partnership with our own globally recognised brands such as Dilmah and Expolanka to promote economic diplomacy. I am appreciative of the fact that Dilmah and Expolanka responded immediately to my request for financial partnership and endeavour. I hope to see other global brands also join in promoting our efforts in economic diplomacy,” De Silva said.