British High Commissioner Welcomes Massive Development in North East Sri Lanka after the End of the 30 Year Conflict

03rd April 2013, www.dailynews.lk, By Chaminda Perera

UK High Commissioner in Sri Lanka John Rankin yesterday welcomed the massive development activities taking place in the North and the East after the end of the 30 year conflict.

He was of the view that this infrastructure development drive will help create more employment avenues and uplift the living standards of the people in the region.

The UK High Commissioner was speaking at a panel discussion at the launch of UNDP Human Development at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies.

The report was presented to External Affairs Minister Prof G.L. Peiris by UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Subinay Nandy.

“I travel to the North and the East quite often as part of my job and I welcome the infrastructure development taking place in the North and the East of the country”, Rankin said.

He said that the UK also encourages the Government to take further steps in the area of reconciliation as recommended by the LLRC. He said that the UK has genuinely helped the development, reconstruction and the de-mining efforts of the country. The High Commissioner said one of the reasons why UK companies are investing in Sri Lanka is due to human capital particularly in IT sector.

UNDP Resident Representative Subinay Nandy said Sri Lanka has made a tremendous progress in terms of infrastructure development in the North and East.

Executive Director of the Centre for Poverty Analysis Priyanthi Fernando and Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Dr. B.M.S. Batagoda were also among the panelists while former Director, Economic Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy was the moderator.

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Increased Flights between UK & Sri Lanka from the Winter Season of 2011-2012

07th April 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka is to sign an air services agreement with the United Kingdom enabling increased flights between the two countries, a government statement said.

The air services agreement would enable the frequency entitlement to be increased to 21 flights a week from 14 today between the two countries.

The increased frequency of flights will be effective from the winter season of 2011-2012.

The island's national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines has been wanting to increase flights to the UK to cater to increasing demand.

The UK has long been one of the key tourist generating markets for the island.

Tourist arrivals have been increasing since the country's 30-year ethnic war ended in May 2009 and arrivals hit a record 654,000 in 2010, up 46 percent from the year before.

The authorities are expecting 750,000 arrivals in 2011 and plan to attract 2.5 million visitors by 2015.

The government statement said the Cabinet of ministers approved a proposal by civil aviation minister Priyankara Jayaratne to sign an air services agreement with the United Kingdom.

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UK ECGD Ups Credit Guarantee to Sri Lanka to £200mn as British Interest in Sri Lanka Grows

09th March 2011, www.island.lk

The UK government has stepped up assistance to improve trade ties with Sri Lanka on heightened interest showen by British businesses in the post-conflict economy, officials said.

Two officials of the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) of the UK are in Sri Lanka on a fact finding mission and to better understand the prospects offered by Sri Lanka’s growing economy.

UK Deputy High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Mark Gooding said the officials’ visit was prompted by heightened business interest in Sri Lanka and the lure of peace dividends after a thirty year conflict. According to Gooding, the UK is Sri Lanka’s second largest trading partner (exports and imports combined at around US$ 1.2 billion) and second largest FDI source at US$ 300 million in 2010.

"We are here to find out about the opportunities and challenges in the local economy so that we can support British businesses who want to trade with Sri Lanka," Ms Olwen Renowden, a country risk analyst with the ECGD told journalists in Colombo yesterday (9).

She also said being in close proximity to one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India, Sri Lanka’s trading prospects were greater.

"A post conflict economy has high income prospects and public debt is lower and the servicing of these debts is less risky as against a country in conflict.

These are some of things we try to determine along with the level of political stability and any anything else that could be a risk," she said.

The ECGD provides credit cover to exporters of capital goods and services in the infrastructure sector and it recently increased its portfolio exposure to Sri Lanka from 150 million sterling pounds to 200 million.

Ms. Renowden said there was an "exciting pipeline of projects seeking credit guarantees", but she did not elaborate what they were. She said there were several British businesses that had already availed themselves of credit guarantees for projects carried out by British firms for Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance and Planning, one of them a bridge in the Northern peninsular.

She said British banks were reluctant to finance projects involving the private sectors of both countries and that lending was tight despite the ECGD guarantees. "The conflict in Sri Lanka is over and there are huge prospects, but it takes time for confidence to grow," she said.

She said when private sector-to-private sector relationships developed between the two countries and when banks were more inclined to finance such projects, the ECGD would be in a position to provide such with credit guarantees as well. "At the moment, our exposure is limited to projects involving the Ministry of Finance and Planning," she said.

A statement from the embassy said, the ECGD already has firms queued up, seeking support for £250m worth of business. "However, this does not take account of the substantial business opportunities about to be launched, not only in the reconstruction and development of the North and East, but in Sri Lanka as a whole.

For example, the Greater Colombo Wastewater Management Project, due to start by the end of this year, is alone worth over £200m. The Colombo Port Expansion project, already underway, but costed at approx. £300m, is another major project suitable for UK engineering and consultancy firms. Other major projects at feasibility stage include nation-wide upgrade of Electricity Transmission, overhaul of Highways and Rail Networks and the development of Sri Lanka’s Fishing and Marine industry."

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UK Companies Seeks Partnerships with Sri Lankan Companies in Financial and Professional Services

21st December 2010, www.dailynews.lk

British High Commission, UKT Deputy Head Nadeesha Epasinghe visited to the Colombo Stock Exchange with a delegation from the Council for Business with Britain.

She said the high performing CSE will help Sri Lanka establish itself as a leading global financial services centre.

"Financial and professional services could soon represent a major component of Sri Lanka's economy and account for a significant percentage of GDP. (Currently, they represent 12 percent of GDP in the UK economy.)

The london Stock Exchange (LSE) is home to companies from over 60 countries around the world, the CSE, too, has the potential to continue to grow and be ranked as a top performing stock market globally.

The credit crunch has had a major impact on the global economy and financial institutions around the world over the past couple of years. However, financial markets in both London and Colombo have continued to function efficiently without interruption despite the volatility and challenges facing the financial sector. The key focus for Sri Lanka in the coming years will be to structurally strengthen, diversify markets and establish a strong skills base to become a truly a global financial centre.

A regulatory framework that uniquely balances market confidence and consumer protection while embracing financial innovation underpins UK's success in the financial services sector and is an area where Sri Lanka has growth potential. At UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) at the Colombo British High Commission, we actively support UK companies entering the financial sector in Sri Lanka because we see the potential. At the same time, we are seeking Sri Lankan companies to invest in the UK's financial sector.

The transfer of knowledge between the two countries - as exemplified with the acquisition of Millennium IT by the LSE - would bode well for the future of both countries. "We also look forward to announcing some impressive partnerships between UK companies and Sri Lankan financial services next year," British high Commission said.

Sri Lankan IT BPO Industry Targets FAO with the Second Largest Pool of UK Qualified Accounting Professionals outside of UK

23rd July 2009, www.itpro.lk

Sri Lankan IT BPO Industry Targets FAO with the Second Largest Pool of UK Qualified Accounting Professionals outside of UK ....

Tell us something about the Sri Lankan IT BPO industry?

Sri Lanka has a vibrant young IT-BPO industry which is poised for rapid growth. It is currently about 250 million dollars and grew at over 23% YoY prior to the global recession. This level of growth was achieved while a significant negative risk perception prevalent due to the LTTE terrorist activities in the north. We have sound basics in place for growth. Now that the war is behind us, as the global economy bounces back, Sri Lanka will take of on a significant growth trajectory. In fact right now, Sri Lanka must be the country with the highest growth potential in Asia.

AT Kearney Global Location Services Index is a well known index of where a country stand in terms of its attractiveness for IT and BPO services. In 2007 Sri Lankan was ranked 29th on this index and in 2009 the ranking has significantly jumped to 16th. This was also done "before" the war ended, so in the 2011 index this will further climb up. Only one or two other counties had a 13 point jump in the AT Kearney Global Location Services Index during 2009. This is a great testament to the potential.

What is the USP of Sri Lanka as an outsourcing destination?

We don't have millions of people like India or China. Sri Lanka is A small country with 21 million people. So our focus clearly is on few key niche areas.

First is Finance and Accounting (FAO) BPO. Sri Lanka has the second largest pool of UK qualified accounting professionals outside of UK. This makes it very attractive for BPOs who are looking for FAO. We have some early movers like WNS, RR Donnelly, Amba Research, HSBC etc. taking advantage of this. There are several other verticals we are focusing on to build Centers of Excellence where we will be able to command a lead position globally. Mobile and Telco Engineering, Software Testing, Travel and Leisure sector are the core verticals Sri Lanka is focused on. So, city Center of Excellence is one of the USP. We are actively working to bring in leading global players, international conferences in these verticals to Sri Lanka to create awareness.

Sri Lanka also offers a unique advantage for SMEs who are looking to outsource. In a larger market like India, SMEs will not have the right level of service and attention. Our market being small, matches very well with the needs of the SME sector. SMEs are also a growth sector for offshoring. Many SMEs who have not looked at outsourcing earlier now look at this as an option to reduce costs, due to the global slowdown. We see an increase number of new SMEs are looking to take advantage of offshoring. Sri Lanka is an ideal place for an SME to outsource their services or for an SME who is looking to set up a small BPO or a R&D Center. SMEs will have premium quality resources at affordable prices and above all a superior service.

Third area that Sri Lanka has an advantage is the low industry attrition (typically 10-12% for IT and BPO). In other well developed markets IT attrition is as high as 20-23% and BPO attrition can go as high as 40%. Even the larger global players such as Infosys, Cognizant, IBM etc can take advantage of this low attrition environment by locating their high investment competency centers in Sri Lanka. For example, if you are building a global sourcing center for SAP skills, which is a high cost investment, if the center is set up in Sri Lanka, your chances of loosing people will be very very limited as not many other players will be in the same space. Many companies have taken advantage of this and build their niche competency centers in Sri Lanka out of harm's way.

Complete Article : http://www.itpro.lk/node/2702

Investment from UK to Develop Agri-Forestry in Sri Lanka

28th October 2009, firstlanka.com

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval for Asia Plantation Capital Limited to grow cash crops and forestry. Dhammika Perera, Chairman / Director General signed the agreement on behalf of the BOI and formally presented the BOI Certificate of Registration to Mr. Arjuna Dissanayake, Director of Asia Plantation Capital.

The venture is an initial investment of Rs. 28 million, sponsored by Oxigen Plantations Limited, UK. The project will provide employment for a workforce of 150. The agri-forestry project would focus on growing Maize as the main crop while growing seasonal crops such as Sesame and Soya. The plantation is established in a 300 acre land in Polonnaruwa.

Arjuna Dissanayake said that most plantations in the area work with rain water and the company expects to set up their own irrigation system. The irrigation system will allow Asia Plantation Capital to harvest 3 crops per year. He also stated that Maize has a high local demand and that the company in addition expects to export to the European. Arjuna Dissanayake, Director signed the agreement on behalf of Asia Plantation Capital.