Expo 2012 renews foreign investor confidence in Sri Lanka

Apr 01, Colombo: Sri Lanka's premier international trade fair "Sri Lanka Expo 2012" with the attendance of over 1,300 foreign investors and buyers from across the globe, held in Colombo came to a conclusion Saturday.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa launched the four-day event organized by the Export Development Board (EDB) on Wednesday at the BMICH.
The much-awaited international fair held in 18 years to promote Sri Lanka's exports drew 1,350 visitors from 55 countries and allowed the 300 plus Sri Lankan exporters to showcase their merchandise to an international audience and earn global recognition.
The attendance of a large number of foreign investors and buyers is a clear indication of Sri Lanka's growing reputation as an exporter of quality products and the awareness in the world of the new investment opportunities present in the country following the end of its three-decade long armed conflict in May 2009.
President Rajapaksa at the opening ceremony of the mega exposition invited the foreign investors to discover the "challenges of opportunity" in the country urged them to earn the best profits for their confident investments.
He highlighted that the large foreign investor presence at the event was both a strong and valuable vote of confidence in Sri Lanka, as well as an expression of trust in the new opportunities for export trade.
The Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiyutheen addressing the gathering has pointed out that despite, "the World Trade Organization 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."
Sri Lanka, despite a ballooning trade deficit of US$ 9.7 billion in 2011, has set a goal to double the export revenue to reach US$ 20 billion by 2025 from the US$ 10.5 billion it earned in 2011.
A large group of Indian businessmen from several Indian trade organizations in attendance at the Expo 2012 has met with the Minister and reiterated the commitment of Indian Industry towards Sri Lanka as a priority destination for Indian investment.
The Indian businessmen have expressed their intentions to enhance the trade and economic relations between the two countries to a new level with the trade reaching a peak of almost US$ 5 billion in 2011.
Sri Lanka is a priority destination for Indian companies and many leading companies have already set up joint ventures (JVs) in Sri Lanka in various fields, Udayan Ganguly, the head of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) delegation to Expo 2012 has said.
Business delegates from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who met the Sri Lankan Minister at the event have said that Expo 2012 is a viable platform for the UAE to identify the export product portfolio of Sri Lanka and they were surprised to by Sri Lanka's vast export portfolio.
Delegations from China, Malaysia, Indonesia and UK numbering over 400 attended the Expo 2012.
Sri Lanka's supportive government policies aim to foster foreign direct investments. The country has bilateral investment protection agreements with 27 countries and double taxation avoidance agreements with 38 countries and no restrictions on repatriation of earnings, fees, capital, and on forex transactions relating to current account payments.

Sri Lanka has proud record of safeguarding human rights

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that he did not want lessons on human rights from outside, days after the UN Human Rights Council adopted a US-sponsored resolution censuring Colombo.

Addressing a public gathering in the central town of Balangoda, Rajapaksa Sunday said Sri Lanka’s human rights protection was inspired by the influence of Buddhism over a period of over 2,500 years. The President said it was his responsibility to resolve all problems faced by his people. Rajapaksa said his objective while appointing the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was that he did not want the problems faced by the people carried forward to the next generation. The President said Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was Sri Lanka’s own probe and no one had the right to force its implementation. He said he did not want lessons on protecting human rights from outside.

Rajapaksa’s comments were his first direct public reaction since the UN Human Rights Council on March 22 adopted the resolution against Sri Lanka.The resolution asks Sri Lanka to implement the LLRC recommendations towards reconciliation with the Tamil minority and for accountability over alleged rights violations during the last phase of the war against LTTE. agencies

UK gov. and police unable to quell riots - Gotabaya

The British government should take all the necessary steps to protect coloured citizens and their property from being looted during the ongoing riots in London, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Ada Derana exclusively.

He stated that neither the UK government nor the police have been able to effectively quell the riots while he appealed the British government to ensure the protection of its citizens’ rights swiftly through direct intervention.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Acting High Commissioner in London said that they were closely monitoring the situation while no Sri Lankans were affected as yet.

SriLankan airlines is to re-start their services to Zurich in Switzerland

Sri Lanka’s national carrier SriLankan airlines will re-start their services to Zurich in Switzerland from December 23, 2011 said the airline.
SriLankan airline now flies 34 countries worldwide and Switzerland, Zurich is the 53rd destination of the airline.
"This will significantly strengthen our services to travelers in central Europe, which is viewed as a market with great potential for tourism to Sri Lanka," SriLankan Airlines chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said.
SriLankan had first started flying to Switzerland in 1980 but it was stopped in 2005.
The Zurich-Colombo flight is likely to operate through Male in the Maldive Islands and the new service would serve travelers in Switzerland, southern Germany, eastern France and Austria

SriLankan Airlines to commence services to Moscow

SriLankan Airlines will commence a new service to Moscow on 15th September, making the Russian capital, the 52nd destination of the airline.

The new service will operate via Dubai, and will commence initially with two flights per week on Thursdays and Saturdays.

SriLankan Airlines Chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of services to Moscow. This will be the first time in history that our national carrier has served Russia, and will no doubt serve to greatly strengthen the close relationship between our two nations.”

SriLankan Airlines has been expanding steadily over the past several months, and launched services to Shanghai last July, Guangzhou in January, and Kochi in March. It will acquire at least six aircraft this year and has been increasing capacity throughout its global route network since last December. The new aircraft will include state-of-the-art Audio Video On Demand (AVOD) entertainment systems.

Tourism to Sri Lanka has been booming since the dawn of permanent peace in the Indian Ocean island two years ago. Tourist arrivals grew by 34% in the first quarter of 2011, after setting an all time record of 654,000 in 2010.

Sri Lanka offers excellent value for money for leisure travelers – especially those from Europe - with hundreds of miles of golden beaches, mist-swathed mountains, ancient cultural sites, and bargain shopping. The airline recently re-launched its domestic service SriLankan Air Taxi, making many parts of the island accessible within an hour on its floatplanes.

Tourist arrivals from Russia grew by 21% in the first quarter of 2010, and by 22% from other countries in Eastern Europe. The airline already serves five European cities – London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Milan – with plans to commence services to several more.

Asia is fast becoming a favourite destination for travelers from Russia, the world’s fastest growing outbound tourist market. According to the World Tourism & Travel Council, Russia is well placed to become one of the world’s travel and tourism powerhouses by 2016.

SriLankan is also largest carrier into Maldives, which is another firm favourite among Russian travelers. SriLankan operates six flights per day into Male, which is just over an hour’s flying time from Colombo. The new service would also be useful for the significant number of Sri Lankans studying in Russian universities.h

Sri Lanka unveils logo for 'Commonwealth Games 2018 Hambantota

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa launched the official logo for country’s bid for 'Commonwealth Games 2018 Hambantota' at a grand ceremony held at Temple Trees last evening (January 31, 2011).
President Mahinda Rajapaksa unveiled the logo while Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Minister Dilan Perera, Commonwealth Games 2018 Hambantota Organising Committee Co-Chairman and the Governor of Central Bank Ajith Nivad Cabraal, President of Commonwealth Games Association & National Olympic Committee Hemasiri Fernando, Chairman of the Tharunyata Hetak Movement Namal Rajapaksa MP, parliamentarians and other distinguished invitees were also present.
President Rajapaksa is much determined to win the bid for Hambantota to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games and has commissioned several vital infrastructure projects in line with it.

Sri Lanka’s tourism boom will not impact Maldives

COLOMBO, January 19 (HNS) – Sri Lanka’s tourism industry which was once battered due to a long drawn civil war, which ended in May 2009, has once again begun to pick up with the island nation giving way to large scale investment projects focusing on promoting tourism.

With several major hotel and resort chains such as Indigo, Movenpick and Shangri-La taking steps to invest in Sri Lanka, questions have been raised as to whether the current boom in tourism would draw fierce competition between Sri Lanka and its friendly neighbour, Maldives which maintains a thriving tourism industry.

Despite many being under the impression that the current trend in Sri Lanka might threaten the Maldivian tourism sector, several hoteliers in Sri Lanka are of the view that the developments in Sri Lanka would not have much of an impact in Maldives as both countries deal with two different areas of tourism.

Srilal Miththapala, the former President of Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, and now a Project Director/Consultant at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said that Sri Lanka and Maldives are two complementary products and not competitive products.

“It is a misconception to think that Sri Lanka and Maldives will be competing in the tourism industry as both countries offer different products. The Maldives islands and beaches are unique and it draws tourists who like that kind of an environment and in Sri Lanka we cater to a different genre of tourists,” he said.

“Even though both Sri Lanka and Maldives offers beautiful beaches they are both different in so many ways. Therefore the growth and development in Sri Lankan tourism could not have an impact in the Maldivian tourism sector,” he said.

The President of the Colombo City Hotelier’s Association, Shanthi Kumar said that Maldives has their own market and the boom in tourism in Sri Lanka will not affect Maldives due to both countries specialising in different areas of tourism.

“Sri Lanka offers cultural, eco-tourism as well as coastal tourism. There might be times where there is competition between the two countries to attract tourists who go to the coastal area in Sri Lanka. But this will not make much of an impact since Maldives has their own brand to offer. Many tourists who go to Maldives look for an experience that they cannot get in Sri Lanka,” he said.

“Sri Lanka and Maldives are two different holiday destinations that cater to different types of tourists. Maldives cannot offer what Sri Lanka has and the same goes to Sri Lanka. That is the main reason why there wouldn’t be competition between the two countries in the tourism industry,” Siri De Silva, the President of the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises Tourism said.

“Maldives is a place where tourists go to relax, enjoy the blue murky water, go diving and enjoy the aquatic life the islands have to offer. In Sri Lanka the beaches are very different to Maldives. In most cases, tourists spend a few days in Maldives and then they visit Sri Lanka because it has many different things to offer. This has been the situation in the past and with the present development projects coming up in Sri Lanka there is no way the Maldivian tourism industry could get affected,” he said.

“I think the Sri Lankan government and the Maldivian government should work together to promote tourism in both countries. This will be very beneficial for both countries and will strengthen the tourism industry in the region,” he said.

Recently the Sri Lankan government signed an agreement with the Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Asia Limited that announced its acquisition of six acres of government land facing the Galle Face green promenade, a prominent landmark in Colombo to build a luxury hotel complex.

The company announced that the planned development will be a multi-use complex with high-end retail facilities, deluxe apartments and a 500 room luxury hotel to open in early 2014.

The Shangri-La group is also making plans to develop a second property, a 300-key city resort on approximately 100 acres of land in Hambanthota, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, to open in 2013.

Alongside the Shangri-La hotel project the Sri Lankan government is now making plans to build a mini-city by reclaiming land from the sea next to the Galle Face green in Colombo. They propose to dredge 500 acres from the sea and build the city between the Galle Face Green and the Colombo port.

The city which will be one-third the size of Male will be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka and will also be a commercial hub with twin- towers with around 40 floors, each overlooking the sea and the city.

Sri Lanka is also making arrangements to build a proposed Formula One race track in Hambanthota in order to host F-1 races in Sri Lanka. Building an F-1 circuit is expected to further increase the inflow of tourists into the country which has shot up since the end of the war.

With the current development in the tourism sector in Sri Lanka, several tour operators are looking at the option of diversifying their operations by providing packages where tourists will be able to visit both Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Currently several Maldivian investors that operate luxury resorts and villas are looking into the option of investing in Sri Lanka in order to work out such packages.

Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, the Chairman of Sri Lanka tourism told Haveeru Daily that he has discussed the matter with tour operators to bring about a combined package which will allow tourists to visit both Sri Lanka and Maldives.

“I have spoken to those involved in the industry in Sri Lanka to look into this aspect as it would be favourable for both countries. In my view it will be helpful for Maldivian hotels and Sri Lankan hotels to work together to provide a combined tour package. I don’t see any competition between the two countries as they offer two different products. This could be beneficial in attracting more tourists to Maldives and Sri Lanka if a combined package system is adopted by most hotels and tour operators in both countries,” he said.

Sri Lanka, which had a tourism growth of 46 percent last year in contrast to 2009, is expected to further rise this year.