Sri Lanka Invites Gulf Businessmen to Invest in Its Farmland. Consul General in Dubai MM Abdul Raheem on Investment promotion

05th March 2012, www.emirates247.com, By Joseph George

Sri Lanka is opening up its farmland to attract international investment and is keen on building business partnerships with Gulf based firms.

Speaking to Emirates 24l7, Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Dubai MM Abdul Raheem said his country wants to extend the farmland investment promotion specifically to Gulf based businessmen.

The country is inviting UAE businessmen to participate in a major conference it plans to host later this month.

“Sri Lanka Expo 2012 will be held between March 28 and 31 and there are already several Gulf businessmen who have signed up to participate in the event. The conference is being held after 15 years and provides the best opportunity for participants to meet Sri Lankan counterparts,” said Raheem.

According to him, the country has plans to bring in attracting schemes to attract foreign investment into its agricultural sector.

“UAE’s imports of food products have significantly increased over the recent years. Investing in Agricultural land will greatly benefit in preventing steep increase in prices and ensuring steady supply,” he added.

According to reports quoting research agencies, growing population and increasing tourist arrival would result in a steep increase in food consumption. The region as a whole would need about 51.5 million tonnes of food every year until 2015.

Food imports across the GCC are expected to reach $53.1 billion by 2020, an increase of 105 per cent from 2010.

“Sri Lanka has more land available for cultivation and it is made available for foreign investors at 99-year lease. Any foreign company that plans to invest in the agricultural sector can enter into a joint venture with any of the local companies,” said Raheem.

According to him trade between Sri Lanka and the UAE has seen a marked growth during recent years exceeding $800 million annually. UAE also is the largest investor in Sri Lanka compared to other Gulf countries.

“Our focus is also toward expanding the tourism sector. Today we have a totally secure Sri Lanka and the government is doing everything it can to promote investments in the tourism sector,” he said.

According to reports a total of 97.4 billion Sri Lankan Rupees (Dh2.93billion) was invested in 2011 to develop the road network and there are plans to pump in an additional Rs128 billion (Dh3.85billion) in 2012.

Israeli Investment in Sri Lankan Government Farm of 2000 Acres. $31mn Investment & 2,000 Dairy Cows to be Brought In

04th March 2012, www.colombopage.com

The Sri Lankan government has decided to privatize the state-owned farm in Polonnaruwa, Ministry of Livestock and Rural Community Development officials said.

Accordingly, the 2000-acre farm which is under the purview of the Livestock Development Board will be given to two Israeli companies.

Under the agreement, the two Israeli investors should bring 2,000 dairy cows to Sri Lanka within two years and US $ 31.7 million needs to be invested within 18 months according sources said.

The investors need to pay 1.25% of income of the farm to the government within the first ten years. From then up to 30 years they should pay 1.5% of the income to the government.

The investors are also required to guarantee the employment of the workers

Sri Lanka Tourism Novel Concept : Farm Accommodation

29th December 2009, www.dailynews.lk, By Charumini de Silva

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has tremendous potential to grow further with the dawn of peace. The opening of the North and the East has brought positive hopes to Sri Lanka’s tourism as two-thirds of the coastline, which was formerly under the control of terrorists, has been liberated making it accessible to tourists PJ Hotels (Pvt) Ltd., Chairman, Prasanna W. Jayewardene told Daily News Business.

PJ Hotels (Pvt) Ltd., will initiate a novel concept to the tourism and hotel industry with the Farm Accommodation in Vakarei, Mannar and Welikanda.

These farms designed in an eco-friendly manner, will enable tourists to experience natural habitats. Each set of suites in each location will be individual in design, simple though large, with building material from the area.

Value-added services vital to attract more tourists the food will be prepared in local specialties using only organic farm products to ensure the eco-friendly concept, he said.

He said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared the year 2011 as the ‘Visit Sri Lanka Year’ and is targeting 2.5 million tourists.

The country has already surpassed the number of tourist arrivals of 450,000 during the last month and it is not an impossible target to attract 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2011.

The target market for the range of hotels is mainly Asians as they have shown a huge interest in exploring Sri Lanka.

Asia has the fastest growing economies and Sri Lanka has the potential of attracting more tourists to the country with the dawn of peace. Through the increased developments in these medium-term and long-term investments of the hotels, it would expand the Gross Domestic Production (GDP), foreign exchange earnings, job opportunities within the area and as a result the per capita income will also grow substantially, he said.

It is essential to highlight new concepts, activities and diversifications such as eco-tourism, adventure tourism, beaches, surfing, snorkelling, mountains, wild life, ancient city exploring, food, shopping, religious backgrounds, cultural events and ayurvedic medicaments.

Tourists will not only arrive by air, but the ferries will also increase and there is already a weekly-operated cruise from Cochin to Colombo, which targets Indian tourist arrivals to increase by over 20,000 annually, Jayewardene said. With the increased number of tourists the hotel industry should launch value added services to attract more tourists by fulfilling their needs. Hoteliers should adopt the concept of being green as it is important to have sustained tourism in the country, he said.