Over 1200 Foreign Buyers and Investors Attend EXPO 2012
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PUBLISHED BY THE TIMES OF SRI LANKA IN TORONTO, CANADA VOLUME 18 – APRIL 2012 Over 1200 foreign buyers and investors attend EXPO 2012 Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially opened EXPO 2012 around 10:30 am on March 28, flanked by Industry & Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and Sri Lanka Export Development Board Chairman Janaka Ratnayaka. Over 1200 foreign delegates, diplomats, trade commissioners, corporate and business leaders were present to take in the engaging opening ceremony at BMICH. Addressing the large gathering, President Rajapaksa welcomed the delegates and distinguished guests and said that Sri Lanka is now open for business and invited the delegates to invest in Sri Lanka. “Peace has dawned on the country and Sri Lanka is experiencing a tremendous growth pattern that is consistent with a rapidly developing country”, said the president. President Rajapaksa explained that Asia, as a region is acclaimed today as the new economic hub of the world, and along with this positioning Sri Lanka is making giant strides to build its vision as a strategically important economic centre within the region. “This is why Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Sri Lanka has more than doubled in the past year. Statistics of new inflows to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) remain buoyant just as much as the inflows of investment in commercial banks. Foreign investors are ready to place their trust in Sri Lanka’s Development bonds. CSE has also seen many new Initial Public Offerings (IPO),” said the president. “International hotel chains like Shangri-la, Sun City and Sheraton have decided to invest in Sri Lanka, while there are many others in the investment pipeline. Investors are comfortable with Sri Lanka’s conducive business environment and confident that they will be at the receiving end of a substantial return on investment. Tourist arrivals have been surging in the last couple of years re-inforcing the fact that Sri Lanka is a desired tourist destination in the world”, added the president. Even before Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa had made these remarks, the world’s top business leaders had shown an interest in Sri Lanka. Some of the success stories are listed below. • A leading international real estate agency, Savills, based in London, had already opened an office in Colombo while a Malaysian consortium will be building the country’s first speed rail link to the Colombo Airport. • The London Eye, which was just a dream to the SAARC region, too would soon be seen in Sri Lanka while a cable Car service which had been talked about for two decades would also be a reality in less than two years. British investors would be handling this project. • Kalpitiya is to have the region’s first seven-star hotel in three years with a Dubai investment while Nuwara Eliya would have the region’s first hotel which could be accessed only by helicopter. This investment would come from a German high-end hotelier. • The Colombo harbour is currently being upgraded while the second international airport and harbour in Hambantota and the international port in Kankesanthurai would enable access to Sri Lanka from many points, bringing the country even closer. The Export Development Board, which is hosting the Expo after 15 years, has spelt out in its strategic plan for the year 2011-2015, an overall target of US$ 15 billion of export earnings. Despite the World Trade Organisation forecasting only 5.8 percent world export growth for 2011, Sri Lanka’s export sector showed strong resilience, by registering a highly commendable growth rate of 22.37 percent in comparison to 2010, said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen. The main objectives of hosting the Sri Lanka Expo 2012 is to promote Sri Lanka’s trade, investment and tourism; to re-position the island as a lucrative business, investment and tourism destination in Asia and to instill buyer confidence in Sri Lanka’s quality products and services, all of which will facilitate the business community. “I am very happy to state that the export sector of Sri Lanka makes up 17 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP. The positive performance achieved by the export sector in 2011 was led by industrial and agricultural sectors. Agricultural exports, which accounted for 23 percent of the total export earnings, grew by 11 percent while industrial exports, which accounted for 75 percent of the total export earnings, grew by 27 percent.” “Sri Lanka has not been diminished by false propaganda that is being spread by those who are trying to prevent investments flowing to our country,” he said. “Expo 2012 is a viable platform for the UAE to identify the export product portfolio of Sri Lanka. In fact, we did not know that Sri Lanka has such a huge export portfolio until today,” said Director of Government Communications Department and Ministry of Foreign Trade of the UAE Rashid Al Telaji. “We are surprised by your vast export portfolio and we gained new awareness on Sri Lanka. Having seen your portfolio, we are now keen to see potential possibilities of more trade with Sri Lanka. I shall be conveying more businesses and corporates in the UAE of Sri Lanka’s trade potential,” he added. The UAE is the second largest Arab economy and the fourth largest oil exporter in the world. Its growth was four percent for 2011 and this growth will be powered by new technologies. Sri Lanka Expo 2012 provided an opportunity to display and promote quality export products on a single platform and more than 300 leading companies in exports representing apparel, tea, rubber, footwear and leather products, ICT/BPO/KPO, gems and jewellery, food and beverages, spices and allied products, coconut and coir-based products, For global exposure, confectionery and bakery products, fish and fisheries products, fruits and vegetables, boat building, ceramic and other Advertise in the popular mineral products, giftware and lifestyle products, handloom, wooden products, spa and herbal products, ornamental fish, TradeWinds e-Magazine floriculture and plastic, paints and allied products, electric and electronic products, ship repairing and ship building, and services sectors. Over 1,200 overseas buyers from strategic markets participated in the event. Expo 2012 opens eight fronts “Lets accept it that Sri Lanka made a statement to the world with Expo 2012 that we are open to business. Even though the event had its own limitations like the faulty air conditioner at the launch, the fact is that the private sector received strong business leads by way of the six hundred foreign delegates came for event. Let's look at the event positively” Lets accept it, Sri Lanka made a statement to the world that we are open for business with Expo 2012, even though it had its limitations like the faulty air conditioner at the launch that grabbed media attention. Whilst some can say that the shine was taken off the event due to the very uncomfortable launch event which may be true, the fact of the matter is that post May 2009, some may have been exposed to only media reports that Sri By Rohantha Athukorale Lanka was safe for business. Courtesy: Daily News Apr.10 But, Expo 2012 addressed this gap and made the six hundred plus foreign delegates experience the beauty and tranquility of Colombo city together with the two hundred odd media personnel, which in my view was a big win for Sri Lanka. Kids fashion show I am in no way advocating that the shortcomings must be over looked but I feel we as Sri Lankans at this moment of time must view Sri Lanka positively so that we signal the correct vibes globally. BBC had covered some components live whilst Aljazeera had aired three segments dedicated to the event. CNN had also telecasted same which gives us an indication of the exposure that Sri Lanka received. Yes it was not perfect but at least Sri Lanka tried and this should be the spirit in today's competitive world in my view though things could have better given that this was one of the key events globally for a any country. Working against all odds No 3: Driving Business My mind goes back to the time when the height of the Let's accept it, the essence of Expo 2012 is the Buyer - Seller meetings and the sales ground operation against the LTTE was in motion in leads that were generated. From the feedback that I got from a cross section of stall December 2008. The government decided to stage the 1st participants it was very positive. Some even received hard orders. May be we should Industrial Exhibition in Jaffna so that the south will begin have spent more on this area by upping the overall impact of a stall and may be to engage the North and there by avoid the LTTE having carpeting across the different buildings. The SME building in particular could instigating the people of Jaffna. There were three of us have got some funding to look better were the comments of the stall holders. End of appointed to champion this project. It was a challenging the day 70% or more exports proceeds come in from the SME sector. May be this is a task given that all logistics had to be done by sea or air cue to Expo 2014. because the A9 was not accessible at that time due to heavy fighting. The event attracted 304,000 people from No 4: System Friendly the Jaffna peninsular and 168 companies from Colombo. A Mobitel official stated that a mobile phone at Rs.5000 Whilst some can be critical to the organizes of international events like Expo 2012 and was not the need for the youth of Jaffna but a 45,000 one.