Image: Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh. Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad was present. by Devan Daniel from Colombo
(February 12, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) India’s private sector is looking at investing US$ 2 billion in various projects here in Sri Lanka particularly in the IT and textile industrial sectors.
Indian companies have already invested US$ 220 million in Sri Lanka and further investments amounting to US$ 360 million is in the pipeline, said Minister of State for Commerce, Shri Jairam Ramesh after talks with officials from the Ministry of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Ministry of Investment Promotion, BOI and representatives of the private sector, held yesterday.
Ramesh, who led a delegation from India’s private sector, said that the purpose of the talks was to promote private sector investment flows between the two countries.
"We discussed ways in which we could have closer cooperation through joint ventures in textiles and BPOs and together cater to the world market," Ramesh said.
Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, said that total foreign direct investments for 2007 amounted to US$ 700 million and India’s contribution amounted to US $ 220 million.
While this meeting brought the private sectors of both countries together to focus on specific industries, the Indian minister extended an invitation for a delegation to visit India with the purpose of focusing on building educational ties.
"Indian educational institutions in both the private sector and public sector could invest in Sri Lanka to provide technical education and training in engineering, science and management," Ramesh said.
Amunugama said that his ministry would make a concerted effort to bridge the gap between education and employability of our youth by accepting Ramesh’s offer.
The Indian companies represented at the discussions were: Quatro, Wardham Textiles, Aditiya Birla Group, Arvind Mills, Virtusa, Indorama, L&T, Indian Oil Company, Reliance SEZ, Mahindra and Mahindra, WNS Sri Lanka and Textprocil.
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