A business delegation from Guangdong Province visited the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) with the objective of exploring opportunities for investment in Sri Lanka. The delegation consisted of Senior Chinese State and Party officials and executives of enterprises from Guangdong particularly from the port city of Nansha.
The Chinese delegation was received by Duminda Ariyasinghe, Director General of BOI. Assisting the Director General were Ms. Nilupul De Silva, (Director – Promotion), Dilip S Samarasinghe (Director – Media & Publicity) Vipula Jayasinghe Senior Deputy Director (Promotion – China Desk Officer), Ms. Kumudini Rathnaweera, (Deputy Director- Promotion) and other senior officials of the BOI.
There have been strong economic relations between Colombo and Guangzhou, since both are included in China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR)strategic initiative to connect China by trade, to Asia, Africa and Europe.
The leader of the visiting delegation Madam Huaying Zhong, Chairperson Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Committee of Nansha District of Guangzhou, indicated that their visit to Sri Lanka was to evaluate the island’s potential for trade and investment. They added that there are many companies in Nansha who could be interested in investing in Sri Lanka. The delegation also invited the BOI to visit Guangzhou province to meet Chinese investors.
Guangzhou (formerly Canton) is a highly developed city which is on the Eastern Coast of China, where much of the country’s economic development has taken place. Hence there was considerable opportunity to pursue trade and investment with this province.
Furthermore Nansha is a very important port city in China and particularly developed in the area of E-commerce. Nansha is also a platform for trading with Southern China. The Sri Lankan side explained to the Chinese visitors that the country is currently seeking to attract more investment in the manufacturing sector, particularly focusing on value added production in targeted sectors such as electronic, apparel and rubber based products. The BOI delegation informed the Chinese visitors that the manufacture of electrical equipment is one targeted area which could provide an opportunity for future Chinese investments.
Another area of potential co-operation is in the manufacture of Jewellery which is highly developed in Nansha, since the city has a large pool of very professional craftsman in that industry. Nansha also has a developed diamond cutting industry which also exists in Sri Lanka. The Chinese delegation said they will promote Sri Lanka in China and especially in sectors such as Agriculture, harbour related activities and Seafood production.
The visit by this delegation to the BOI is yet another indicator of the growing interest of Chinese Enterprises for investing overseas, including in Sri Lanka. In 2015, Chinese investments overseas totaled US$145 billion which represents an 18.3% increase from the previous year.
In recent months there have been regular visit by delegations from different Chinese Provinces which have come to the island to evaluate possibilities to invest in the country. Last year China emerged one of the biggest FDI generating countries for Sri Lanka with $150 million (with an additional $188 million from Hong Kong) and also Chinese nationals are now the single largest group of tourists traveling to the Island.