What insights might be drawn from more advanced services-based economies and established SEZs for developing of the policy framework for Colombo Port City?

Dr Wignaraja said that the LKI Research showed that investors require a law that’s clear and transparent with regard to property rights of investors, tax concessions and also market access to large economies in India and East Asia. The negotiations with India on the upgraded trade agreement will be crucial for attracting investments from Indian investors. Likewise, he further stated that Sri Lanka needs to have a trade agreement with China and make the Sri Lanka-Singapore trade agreement active to bolster investor confidence from wealthy Southeast Asian economies including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Furthermore, he underlined that Sri Lanka needs to tackle long-term bottlenecks in human capital, infrastructure and financial markets.

The signal that Sri Lanka is “open for business” needs to be clearly articulated not just by statements made but also by concrete actions on the ground such as laws, infrastructure, and education. Dr. Wignaraja argued that potential investors pay careful attention to Sri Lanka’s annual ranking in cross-country benchmarking exercises of investment climates like the World Bank’s Doing Business Index and the World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Index.