The Indian CEO Forum-Sri Lanka (ICF) says it has launched the ‘Shine Sri Lanka’ platform to promote trade and investments, as well as tourism between the two nations.
The ICF made the observation during its meeting with Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo on Thursday (06).
The Prime Minister’s Office said PM Gunawardena stressed the need for further growth in bilateral trade and an increase in Indian investments in new areas, where Indian techno know-how could be introduced.
He thanked the Indian companies for their significant input and support to the Sri Lankan economy by way of bringing substantial investments into the country, export earnings, employment generation, and contribution of treasury through direct and indirect taxes.
The CEO team led by Form’s President, T.S. Prakash, stated that the member companies represent diverse industries from automobile, banking, cement, and FMCG to fuel, glass, hospitality, infrastructure, logistics, packaging, paint, and pharmaceuticals.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s proposal to venture into new areas, he said the ICF has launched ‘Shine Lanka’ platform to promote trade and investments as well as tourism, which has a huge potential.
The Prime Minister briefed the CEO’s about the steps taken by the government to solve the unprecedented economic crisis faced be the country. Airtel’s Ashish Nanda said his company has access to over 65% Indian households through mobile telephones and Sri Lanka could promote tourism in the vast Indian market using IT.
The Indian CEOs expressed appreciation over the initial successes made by Sri Lanka in its plans to recover from the economic crisis and emphasized the need to sustain the efforts. They also called for relaxation of some outdated regulations to enhance the growth of trade and attract investments.
Mr. Prakash said the Indian companies make a valuable contribution to the economy by providing gainful employment to thousands, providing best-in-class management, and technical skills, and contributing substantiality to Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange earnings despite the current economic challenges.
He said the objective of ICF is to promote economic growth in Sri Lanka through Indian investment, safeguard and strengthen existing economic cooperation, foster new economic ties between India and Sri Lanka, and provide an open forum for business leaders of Indian origin employed with Indian multinationals and Sri Lankan business organizations in Sri Lanka.
The delegation included Past President – Umesh Gautam, (Lanka Ashok Leyland PLC)., Vice President, Kishore Reddy, (Platinum Realty), Manoj Gupta, (Lanka IOC), Ashish Chandra, (Bharti Airtel), Harikrishnan Sundaram (Colombo West International Terminal), Girish Manjeswar (UltraTech Cement) and Anurag Sharma, (Reckitt).
Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake also attended the meeting. (NewsWire)