Wants more entrepreneurs to invest in SL

By Sandun A Jayasekera   

The government was more than happy over the visit of Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani to Sri Lanka and would encourage other top entrepreneurs of the world to visit Sri Lanka to explore possibilities of investment here, Cabinet spokesman, Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said yesterday.  

“It was a business cum private visit. There is nothing to hide or worry about it as Mr. Adani has invested heavily in Sri Lanka and he is also the Chairman of the multinational conglomerate in India, the ‘Adani Goup’. He has already agreed to invest US$ 700 million to develop the West Container Terminal at the Port of Colombo, one of the biggest Direct Foreign Investments in recent times in Sri Lanka,” he added.   

“We are all aware of the devastation and mayhem caused by the Easter Sunday carnage and the Covid- 19 pandemic to Sri Lanka. The national economy has been hit badly as never before depleting the DFI to a drip. The export revenue, the income generated from tourism and industrial sector has been severely affected. In addition, prices of essential commodities that Sri Lanka imports have increased dramatically in the global market. In such a scenario, our only hope is to attract more and more DFI to our country if we are to come out of this mess. We must see the visit of Mr. Adani in such viewpoint but not with a sense of hypocrisy, jealousy or politically coloured perspective,” Minister Dr. Pathirana emphasized.   “The government will provide all possible facilities, encouragements and incentives for the investors as Sri Lanka does not have enough foreign currency to develop our resources single handedly,” he said in response to a journalist.