Exports will play a key role in achieving the objectives laid out in Sri Lanka’s Mahinda Chinthana development program, which aims to increase the nation’s GDP and increase per-capita income to provide socio-economic benefits to every segment of society. “In 2010, GDP was already over 8%,” says Janaka Ratnayake, Chairman and CEO of Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board (EDB). “We are on the right track.”
Between January and June 2011, exports to the country’s top two destinations – the EU and the U.S. – increased by 48.7% and 36% respectively, compared with the first six months of 2010. The greatest growth was seen in exports to Singapore, which shot up by 74%, or $114.65 million. In all, according to the EDB, Sri Lanka’s exports in the first half of 2011 totaled $5.1 billion, representing 40.9% growth compared to the same period last year.
The EDB has organized Expo 2012 – a showcase for the country’s products and services, which will run from 28 to 30 March this year in Colombo, at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Exhibition Center. The event will be a platform for more than 300 exhibitors and will be a catalyst to attract over 1,000 serious international trading and investment partners to Sri Lank
“A lot of foreign investments are coming into the country and the best thing about it is that it is a Sri Lankan development model. We need to have our own model mixed with an international flavor,” says Mr. Ratnayake. “In 10 years you will see a different Sri Lanka.”
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