Hambantota International Port Group signs MoU with Board of Investment

Exchanging of the signed MOU. Standing from left: Tissa Wickramasinghe, Chief Operating Officer HIPG, Tim Xiao, Senior General Manager of Port Investment Services and General Affairs Department HIPG, Sanjaya Mohottala, Chairman of BOI, Minister Namal Rajapaksa, Johnson Liu, Chief Representative of China Merchants Port Holdings in Sri Lanka and CEO of HIPG Raymond Mu, Chief Financial Officer HIPG and Sabrina Edirisinghe, Senior Manager of Port Investment Services, HIPG

• Joint shared services for industries in the Southern Province  

Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) signed a cooperative ‘Shared User Services’ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 26th.

Johnson Liu, Chief Representative of China Merchants Port Holdings in Sri Lanka and CEO of HIPG, and Sanjaya Mohottala, Chairman of BOI, signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement, at a ceremony held at the Presidential Secretariat, Colombo.  

Youth & Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa was present to witness the event.

Under the MOU, both the BOI and HIPG will work closely together to provide joint communications to promote FDI opportunities in Hambantota that include the industrial Park, conduct market research to identify suitable projects to site at Hambantota, which includes the Port Industrial Park. HIPG will in turn provide port operation services for investment projects established in BOI Export Processing Zones, and for BOI to facilitate comprehensive and functional single window facilities on investor support services for HIPG projects.  

Board of Investment Chairman Sanjaya Mohottala said, “Collaboratively presenting Sri Lanka’s unique investment opportunity is strategically significant for the country, as investors will benefit from experiencing holistic value propositions communicated through a co-created approach between our two entities. Additionally, with breakthroughs in port throughput, park entry projects and project constructions accomplished by the Hambantota Port, this MOU will positively impact and further enhance ease of doing business for BOI enterprises, who can avail themselves of these shared service facilities at the HIPG. 

CEO of HIPG, Johnson Liu, expressed his appreciation of the Sri Lankan government for the cooperation and support given to HIPG.  Pointing to the friendly cooperation between China Merchants and BOI, which began as early as 2011, with the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) and continued with the Hambantota International port Project, he said, “As an international multi-purpose port and park project, HIPG is committed to providing high-quality and efficient services for vessels plying the East-West main shipping lanes. 

Under the new cooperation framework, ‘Shared User Services,’ HIPG will extend port resources, wharf facilities, park resources and the port’s Master Plan offers practical business and logistics support for the development of enterprises in the Southern Province, where enterprises would have ease of importing and exporting their goods.HIP will also facilitate upstream logistical and support services for potential investors to the industrial park within the port”  The CEO added that to-date, HIPG’s Port Industrial Park has attracted more than 30 global enterprises, ranging from the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, China, Maldives and other countries.