KARACHI – Sri Lanka is the next economic miracle success story emerging in Asia and Pakistani investors should look to enter this promising market. These views were expressed by the Consul General of the Republic of Sri Lanka in Karachi DW Jinadasa, while talking to the media.
Giving details, Jinadasa said that the Sri Lankan economy is expected to record an astounding growth of eight percent in 2010, while the GDP per capita has more than doubled to over $2,000 in the last five years.
These developments he added, had led international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank to categorise SriLanka as a Newly Emerging Middle Income Country.
The Sri Lankan diplomat said that his government was keen to promote and increase bilateral trade between both countries, as the trade volume and figures did not reflect the very close and friendly ties that exist between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He said the bilateral trade pattern between the two countries is limited to traditional products; therefore the business communities of both countries should explore trade and investment opportunities available in each other’s countries.
Jinadasa said that Sri Lanka was beginning to present tremendous emerging investment opportunities as the country had become a haven of peace and investors from all over the world were keenly following developments in the island nation.
He invited Pakistani businessmen to also visit Sri Lanka and look for opportunities them in areas such as agriculture-processing, dairy, agriculture, sugar, textile processing, cement, pharmaceuticals, information technology and the hotel industry.
The tourism industry in Sri Lanka, he pointed out, was likely to grow at a remarkable level because tourism had seen a 50 percent growth in the last few months. He invited all Pakistanis to visit Sri Lanka in February and March 2011 to support the Pakistani cricket team, which would be playing all their group matches for the World Cup 2011 in Sri Lanka.
