Eran pitches for Singapore investments

Deputy Minister of Highways, Higher Education and Investment Promotion Eran Wickramaratne led a delegation to Singapore from 11 to 14 February to attend a series of events aiming at promoting Singaporean investment in Sri Lanka which was organised by Board of Investments (BOI), Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Bank of Mizuho, Singapore.

Members of the delegation from BOI comprised of Executive Director Renuka Weerakoon, Director (Investor Services) Mahinda Ramanayake and Deputy Director/Desk Officer for Singapore Manilal Ranasinghe.

In the keynote address, the Deputy Minister said that in the first three months the government intends putting in place a framework to ensure that confidence will return and business will be able to function independently.

The Deputy Minister emphasised that further economic growth will be driven by investment and foreign direct investment will be welcome. Wickramaratne also mentioned that Sri Lanka has many skilled people in the areas of technology and that Sri Lanka was open to other areas as well.

The Deputy Minister also mentioned that the new Government will continue some of the projects particularly roads and highways and that the only difference will be that the Government will be doing business in a transparent way.

During the visit, the Deputy Minister attended a high profile business meeting with members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce which was organised by the Sri Lanka High Commission, Singapore.

The participants expressed their keenness in investing in Sri Lanka in the near future in the sectors of logistics and process outsourcing services, real estate, technology investment, apparel manufacturing, construction, engineering industry, infrastructure, agriculture MICE tourism and retail industries.
Acting High Commissioner Vipulatheja Wishwanath Aponsu and Second Secretary Rekha Mallikarachchi also participated in the meeting.

The Deputy Minister attended several investment promotions events organised by Mizuho Bank on 13 February at Westin Hotel followed by networking sessions arranged by APL Logistics, Toshiba Company, Japanese Chamber of Commerce (Singapore Branch) B.P. de Silva Group and Altair – Iconic Development in Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Deputy Minister also had the opportunity to meet several Singaporean Investors and Sri Lankan Investors based in Singapore.

http://www.ft.lk/2015/02/18/eran-pitches-for-singapore-investments/

Don't really see anything bad in this move.

Yes, if we can find out how did they manage in half a century to be a rich country from a very poor country (when we could not find the formula even after for almost seven decades), it will be good for the country.

slstock wrote:Don't really  see anything bad in this move.

agree kith.... we need development

CLND owner (singaporean) need to come to this event. After the presentation he need to ask one question. Our company has paid to a 10 acre land in Pettah in 1982. Now it has been more than 3 decades. Still we haven't got the land. How Sri Lanka can improve the investor trust ?

Yes, taking a load of officials overseas will have minimal effect, unless the bottle necks are cleared and a suitable environment is created.
I read somewhere that setting up a business in HKG takes less than 6 hours and I was even surprised how long it took me to get my VAT refund in Singapore recently.
Unbelievable.

sapumal wrote:CLND owner (singaporean) need to come to this event. After the presentation he need to ask one question. Our company has paid to a 10 acre land in Pettah in 1982. Now it has been more than 3 decades. Still we haven't got the land. How Sri Lanka can improve the investor trust ?

කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:Yes, if we can find out how did they manage in half a century to be a rich country from a very poor country (when we could not find the formula even after for almost seven decades), it will be good for the country.

Ochara formula hoyanda deyak na, they never voted for a hypocrite as PM they never voted for hypocrite's useless widow as PM and they never voted hypocrite family's housemaid daughter as President. They also never got a racist who slept while the main city burned.
By not being cursed by short termist leaders they got 50 years of consistent policy and long term vision. Also their man was a educated dictator but he didn't have big family and he didn't have big ego either

I agree with the latter part in your response.

jiggysaurus wrote:

කිත්සිරි ද සිල්වා wrote:Yes, if we can find out how did they manage in half a century to be a rich country from a very poor country (when we could not find the formula even after for almost seven decades), it will be good for the country.

Ochara formula hoyanda deyak na, they never voted for a hypocrite as PM they never voted for hypocrite's useless widow as PM and they never voted hypocrite family's housemaid daughter as President. They also never got a racist who slept while the main city burned.
By not being cursed by short termist leaders they got 50 years of consistent policy and long term vision. Also their man was a educated dictator but he didn't have big family and he didn't have big ego either

For Singapore lovers

-95% of the land belong to government
-85% houses are built and sold by government
-between 20-36%  of the salary is with held as epf , it is reinvested, but paid an interest about 2-3% to epf holders. The epf is re paid monthly basis when a person reach 55.Some people  may even not get the full amount in their life time, but relative may get the balance.
-No free education, health,housing, transport and etc. but have subsidy for special cases.
-Every employer has tp employ other races
-Their is no special colony for any races.
-Only 10days public holidays
-Free economy
-there are over 2million foreign workers here and they are levied in Singapore dollars