Srilankan Breakfast | unDavos 2026

Sri Lanka surpassed its estimated government revenue by 10% in 2025 — the highest overshoot in the country's history. One year after a party once labelled "extremist" took power, diplomats who feared the worst are now stunned by the results. At an intimate breakfast in Davos, the Prime Minister and Deputy Finance Minister made their case directly to investors.

WHAT THIS PANEL COVERS

• How Sri Lanka achieved macroeconomic stabilization through fiscal consolidation while simultaneously opening up imports and repaying debt
• Why the government is prioritizing green energy, data centers, and electrified transport as strategic investment corridors with 50 GW of renewable potential
• What the new Investor Protection Act, single-window for foreign investment, and national export window mean for doing business in Sri Lanka
• How the education system is being reformed from grade one up — introducing vocational pathways, equalizing quality, and preparing youth for lifelong learning
• Why Sri Lanka positions itself as a hub connecting investors to the Indian market through its strategic location and human capital

PANELISTS

• Dr. Harini Amarasuriya — Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
• Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando — Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka

unDavos is a community-driven summit running during WEF week in Davos, democratizing the conversation around global challenges.

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Tags: Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka investment, Sri Lanka economy, Harini Amarasuriya, fiscal consolidation, emerging markets, South Asia investment, green energy, education reform, Davos 2026, WEF, unDavos, investor protection, public-private partnership, tourism Sri Lanka, trade and investment, macroeconomic stability, IMF, sustainable growth

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TRANSCRIPT

These types of events. We are recovering. The president appointed a task force to manage the recovery and rebuilding efforts. The task force is chaired by me, and we have representation from public, private, and civil society in the task force. We have eight subcommittees that are looking at the various aspects that need rebuilding and need recovery, and we are ready to move on. In that sense, 2025-2026 for us was a year in which we really want to focus on growth, on sustaining the macroeconomic fundamentals that we had achieved in 2025, and we are hopeful for this. This is where I think you come in. We are very keen on establishing a transparent investment climate, a counter-investment climate, ruling out corruption. Again, Minister Anirjan, I will tell you of some of the initiatives that we have already undertaken. This year in June, we are hosting an expo, and I would like to extend an invitation to all of you to come to visit. As you know, even without an expo, Sri Lanka is a country worth visiting. As I am sure some of you know already, do come and participate in the expo, and we look forward to creating a really good relationship, and looking forward to many more initiatives from Switzerland in Sri Lanka. We think of Sri Lanka as a story of hope and optimism in this very chaotic world that we are living in today. Sri Lanka offers a story and a narrative that change is possible, that democracy is still alive and well, and that good governance can mean something and can actually precipitate change that is centred on the people that governments are elected to serve, but also that these ideas can be upheld not just because we function on our own, but through cooperation and solidarity and collaboration with global partners. So thank you again for this opportunity, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how we can work together in the future. Thank you very much. Thank you, Honourable Prime Minister. I would pass on the words now to the Deputy Finance Minister. Thank you

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

For these types of events. We are recovering. The president appoints a task force to manage the recovery and rebuilding efforts. The task force is chaired by me, and we have representation from public, private, and civil society in the task force. We have eight subcommittees that are looking at the various aspects that need rebuilding and need recovery, and we are ready to move on. And in that sense, 25-26 for us was a year in which we really wanted to focus on growth, on uh sustaining the uh sustaining the macroeconomic fundamentals that we had achieved in 2025. Uh, and we are hopeful for this. And uh this is when I think you come in. Uh we are uh we are we are very uh keen on establishing uh a transparent investment climate, an accountable investment climate, ruling out corruption. Uh again, Minister Aniel Janta will tell you of some of the initiatives that we have already undertaken. And this year in June, we are hosting uh an expo. And I would like to extend an invitation to all of you to come to visit. Uh, as you know, even without an expo, Sri Lanka is a country worth visiting, uh, as I'm sure some of you know already, but do come and participate in the expo, and we look forward to uh giving a really good relationship and looking forward to many more uh initiatives uh from Switzerland in the in Sri Lanka. We think of Sri Lanka as a story of hope and optimism in this very chaotic world that we are living in today. Sri Lanka offers a story and a narrative that change is possible, that democracy is still alive and well, and that uh good governance can mean for something, can mean something, and can actually precipitate change that that is centered on the people that governments are elected to serve, uh, but also that these ideas can be held upheld, uh not just because we function on our own, but through cooperation and solidarity and collaboration with global partners. So thank you again for this opportunity, and uh I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how we can work together in the future. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_08 2:42

Thank you, honourable Prime Minister. I would um uh pass on the words now to the Epic Finance Minister.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Please thank you very much. Good morning to everyone.

SPEAKER_05 3:02

Um I hope that um Prime Minister's brief um uh the the current uh situation of Sri Lanka and what we are, what we are supposed to do and the projection. I'll just give you like uh very brief um um idea from investor uh the perspective so that you um would like to know more. So basically um investors like uh operate in a wide array in different forms. Um may financiers, financial providers, some may be um real uh uh manufacturers and different that type of operations are there. So basically uh it's a fact that investors look for a better return, sustainable return, and low risk, and your confidence in the investment culture. Already you have some assessment about Sri Lanka and our government and future potential for investment as well from your assessment, information that you have gathered and the way you have read our government. But from our side, as well, also just give you little bit information who we are, what we are supposed to do. Because um, at the very beginning, it is a fact that um we have been labeled that even before we formed the government, even after forming the government, we have been labeled as extremists, more violent. So some diplomats basically were just having discussions now. Some diplomats just told me um we were shocked to hear the news that uh Sri Lankan uh uh in Sri Lanka, the party, extremist party, has captured power. So they were really told at that time. So after one year, uh the performance, now they are really happy to see how Sri Lanka is governed by respecting the good governance, democracy, and government. So we face lots of challenges. The first challenge already the time was explained. So, how this week would establish like uh the GP stabilization. That was the biggest challenge. We did it from two fronts. One is the uh fiscal consolidation, and we did it not only that, uh it was the year 2025 of the year in the history that reported the highest, the the uh highest in a way, like uh not the highest, but that the um no year has surpassed the estimated government revenue. So that's the year we surpassed uh by 10%. So that's a great achievement that uh gave us a big uh uh uh breathing space. As a result, we were able to build huge cash buffer, that is how we quickly react to uh this uh to the uh disaster. The other area is um the external uh buffer, external sector. It was gradually being ruined, but uh we were able to within a year uh to bring it up to a level not by like restricting the economy, like you can build your reserves without importing, but we opened up importation, vehicle importation, debt repayments, you know, all those things. And on the other hand, we expanded uh revenue generations part as a result. We strongly believe that um we are on a comfortable seat. The challenge now is to achieve the medium-term um the growth, sustainable and inclusive growth, um more than seven percent. It's challenging, but key driver is nothing but trade and investment. So where you guys can be a part of this journey, and um, there are lots of opportunities available. Um, strategic priorities are there in the energy sector, we can discuss rated, and the tourism has also been identified as another important area, and um the value-bedded industries, especially mineral-based, even though we are not that frequent within week. So there are certain opportunities that we are uh the uh the elements are there, then we focus on these value-added industries and logistics, another uh the area we can think of. Um uh prioritize from some other opportunities you may suggest during our discussions. Um the other side is investing environment. What do you want? Um it's a fact that everyone likes to have a conducive environment, a level playing field. When investors deal with governments and investors engage in different projects, it can happen in different ways. When you have so much connection with the government, maybe favorism, so that's also one will. So our policy is to not to favor selected and to discriminate any investors but to create a level-paying fee. To that, um the perspective already the digital economy is on its uh agenda. Uh, we try hard to um integrate all these sort of platforms and um agencies together to facilitate investors. And two main uh investor facilitation projects are going on. Hope that we will be able to launch in this year. One is a single window to facilitate for uh the foreign investment, the other one is the national uh trade single window to facilitate exporters. So um we hope that that would be launched in 2026. And in this year, we will enact uh Investor Protection Act. Uh, some changes and amendments have been already uh put into the legal framework. New amendments will also mainly investor protection is needed, and the relationship between investors and other stakeholders should be on three uh kind of uh democratic platforms, and um taxation is another area. Hurrung other tax structure is complicated by the time we uh took the government. We made some changes during the year, but in the future also we would do such changes in line with the basic principles of taxation. We are taxation convenient and simple. We comply with government principles, and we do not have an idea of just make changes, adopt changes from time to time. Then investors can easily plan um their businesses, cash flows, and reduce the risks and the volatility. So, this is how we have those of the investor uh the environment and the facilitation. Uh, with that, uh conclude, leaving uh you to raise some more questions and things. And one thing on behalf of uh Prime Minister and the government, I can say we own the government, we came into politics with a genuine reason. That is uh none other than to transform Sri Lankan society to a better place. So we uphold that the mandate and will never conflict our personal interest in the public interest. We hope that we have been doing this thing in the future. Also, we are capable of doing this thing. So your support, your contributions are right, important. Um in the future, we will contribute together and um bring the benefits of this chance prosperity. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_08 11:46

Thank you so much. It's really refreshing to hear you both, and I can only encourage you to um do this more often, to tell the world how you change. And I hope this venue here in Davos has encouraged you as well to do that so that you are heard in the world. We are insiders for Sri Lanka, but you admire your country and have been there for over 20 years, but the rest of the world doesn't. So I think um we can maybe uh take a little bit from the man who spoke yesterday, the big marketer. Um doesn't have to be that extreme, but I think you are a wonderful country and um you do good and you have to talk about it. So I can only encourage you to continue to do that. Um with this, I would like to maybe break the eyes with the first question and then leave it to the podium, uh and to you as well. Um I cannot resist as an economist and asset manager to um get what's happening in Sri Lanka in contact with the stock market, uh, which has been thriving in the last few years, and um, you know, sometimes uh is is known as a precursor for the actual economic development in about six to eighteen months. And Sri Lanka's indices last year rallied over 26%, previous years were were good. So they anticipate an economic recovery in the months to come. Inflation is down at 2.1%, unemployment rate at 4.3. Do you view this already as a sign in the real economy that the market is right?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:43

So coming to um the investment and stock market and the real economy, um as far as the uh the the economy performance uh the indicators um that show um that um the right stabilizer stabilization is there, but uh much more is required to um attract and promote investments. The one the place is the capital market to form the required uh the capital for real investments. To some extent, we know that um the stock markets, financial markets is a place to have a kind of return, and um it shouldn't be a gambling place. So in the past, uh there were lots of uh allegations about the stock market, um uh about the insider dealing and all. Now we have been able to uh stabilize it, and again the regulator's task is independently independently done, and um that is the reason why we gradually the return in a way like uh exceptional return could be due to a reason in the past uh the market was really, really down. Now it is really picking up, and now the the regulator doesn't leave a single room for manipulation, so a couple of weeks' time you may have noticed um one IPO, uh the Wealth Trust IPO. Um what happened? The the uh initial the price was just seven rupees. But on the same day, so it went up to 25,000. Uh so whether it is a manipulation or respect, you must have already noticed. But the one thing is that market was already almost about to just break. Uh unfortunately, there was no circuit breakup for the IPOs, but the regulator intervened correctly and purge all the transactions we are investigating as of now. That's been revealed that uh it's not a deliberate fund, but we are looking at that. So the capital market would be uh place for us for you to invest uh uh reliably, even for trading, based on information. What matters is the information, but not the uh speculation or intuitive uh the practices. So we will do all these required things from the government side, and again for future investment as well. And government has an idea of uh floating the some of the state-owned enterprises within downside lap of gold income and in the future, maybe in um uh different uh SOAs are there. So this is the plan for stock market and uh the government uh what is called uh state-owned enterprises. Um yes.

SPEAKER_08 16:54

Thank you for um these um clear answers. Um I hope there will also be some privatizations going on to uh make sure that yeah, in a way, like uh the word privatization is also promptly interpreted in Sri Lanka.

SPEAKER_05 17:12

The privatization when the ordinary person in Sri Lanka here the privatization is involved, the cheap selling of assets. Um we in a way we do not like to hold the word as privatization, we prefer to have the restructuring of reforms in state-owned enterprises. There are many avenues. Now legal reforms will be there for public-private partnerships, joint ventures, and strategic business activities likewise. Um because when we say the privatization, lots of resistance is there. What we prefer is to have these joint collaborations and a partner. I think the opportunities are open.

SPEAKER_08 18:01

Very good. Thank you. Maybe we have some first questions from the audience.

SPEAKER_06 18:14

Yeah, uh, first of all, excellency, thank you very much for having us this morning here for lovely breakfast. Actually, I'm Swiss, I've never been to the host because I was always scared of the trafficker as well, you know, but I made it. Um, so I have different hats on, you know, I'm working for impact investment solutions. We have our own foundations, and also here these two nice gentlemen from the International Spiritual Council for Transforming Humanity. Um, my basic question is education is very important in an emerging market and growing market like yours. And I heard from some people, also from your system, that you place particular emphasis on education. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? What the primary goals are in over the next couple of years.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Right, thank you for that. This is my hobby also stop me if I talk too much. Sri Lanka has a history of a really strong education system. We invested in education very early on from the 1930s, and we have a public fund, publicly funded education system from grade one, starting at grade one, right after your university level, it's free. So as a result, we uh very early on, by about the 1950s, we were able to uh really increase our literacy, increase access to education, enrollment at the primary level is almost 97% of the 97-98%, and it's equal for girls and boys, which is very unusual in uh South Asia as you well know. Uh and we have a we have good human capital. This is our greatest trend. We produced uh very uh you know sound professionals that don't only serve Sri Lanka but serve uh many parts of serving many parts of the world. However, uh what has happened over the years is that there's a growing inequality in the quality of education. So not everybody is able to access a high-quality education, and increasingly the quality of the education you're able to access is uh dependent on your uh sort of family background, uh, economic status, all of these things. Also, uh there is a mismatch between the skills that are required today and the skills that are being taught within our education system. Our education system is once again yet another legacy of uh colonial uh rulers. We have to follow the British model of education and it's very uh exam-oriented. So increasingly within the schools, the education system caters to teaching to pass exams, and that's the main focus. So we want to change this. This is these are the main things that we want to address. We want to be able to use the resources that we are investing in education meaningfully, so that the quality we focus on the quality of education, which means investment then also in the human resources within education, which is teachers, so making sure they get good salaries, good training, that their professional development is continuous. This is one aspect. Uh, infrastructure development, so that uh across the board, uh schools generally have at least all schools have at least the 50. Minimum level of necessary infrastructure, including digital infrastructure, and a change in the curriculum and the education model where we want to introduce a vocational pathway fairly early on and allow for students, similar to what is happening here, allow for students to be able to choose either a vocational pathway or a traditional academic pathway. But both pathways could also lead to higher education and degrees and diplomas or what have you after 13 years of education. Currently, our vocation, we have a TVEC sector, but it doesn't have the same social value as the more traditional academic pathway. Primarily also because the vocational pathway is seen as the pathway that's open for students who don't make it to the academic pathway. So there's always a kind of a lower recognition given to students who are choose Tibet. So we this is the main, this is also one of the main changes we want to make. Plus, we, you know, I mean, all devos sort of was all about reskilling new jobs, the uncertainty with jobs. There's a lot of discussion around this. Countries such as ours are very cognizant of the complications of the new job offer, AI, all of this, and in fact it will have all the kinds of skills that we uh need to uh need to give us our population. But what we think is that I don't think we can ever sort of you know keep up with how rapidly things are changing. Uh but that are uh what we really want to focus on is skill or increasing the capacity of our young people, particularly, to be able to learn, lifelong learning. So that they work, they may come back for education, but they're able to pursue different paths. And there's more flexibility or not sort of fixed in one particular niche, uh, and that you're able to adapt to changing circumstances. So these are kind of some of the changes that we are trying to bring in. We are we started last year, the new curriculum for grade one is being implemented this year. We'll start on the 29th of January, and from next year we are introducing new curricula, but also this uh infrastructure and human resource development, which is about equalizing the uh the opportunities that are currently available. So this is in a in a nutshell what we are trying to do.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_11 24:46

Julian Schwenko from R Systems. First, I'd like to thank again for the uh we had the pleasure to to host you on Tuesday. And uh I was overwhelmed uh about the reactions I got internally from uh old friends from Sri Lanka. Uh they chatted to me a lot and uh you asked me um for uh anything that uh that uh I may may give you as a hint uh to to make the uh uh our opportunities even better in Sri Lanka. And I got some hints from from my top colleagues. Um so they were asking about um uh two specific things. Um one is uh tax situation. Uh we uh during crisis we lost a lot of high potentials uh uh to other countries, so they uh they went away and uh cycling is did not completely solve. And uh one reason that they uh they they see is tax situation for them, so private tax situation and um at a lot of uh private tax in the sense uh individual income tax exactly 36 percent progressive tax okay exactly and uh this uh gives us a half time uh in our plans to uh to establish an engineering and IT hub with high-skilled engineers and uh uh high-skilled office workers. So that's one thing, and uh uh in addition to that, uh they were asking about this uh uh uh CP hub uh idea if this will come true because they see a huge potential that uh to to reach out out and so thank you thank you very much.

SPEAKER_05 26:37

Uh uh we will just take that into account and uh do that right, especially when it comes to the policy, apart from the um secondary um uh businesses, there are opportunities mainly in the uh financial sector as well for offshow banking and financing. Um the taxation uh as it is told you some complexities are here. We will look into this one because uh the current progress is rates starting from uh zero to 36, 36 reaches within uh 36 uh um reaches within the the short limit is 350,000. So we will do that, and the uh yeah, other thing is um now it is a fact that within the global scenario, now taxes not a problem because everyone has to pay tax. How it should be paid and whether it shouldn't be uh complicated or not, because now uh OECD uh the global tax framework is in operating and we are ready to expand the uh double tax, the treaties and agreements and the connection and integration. So we are by to provide the most benefits and transition for the investors. So we'll take them into account, and if possible, we will have more discussions uh to see how best we can fix it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_11 28:14

So in product account to say thousands of uh proceed keys and effects.

SPEAKER_05 28:18

Oh, yeah, yeah, we have this.

SPEAKER_07 28:21

Sure, thank you.

SPEAKER_09 28:24

So thank you so much. Uh here is we are happy to see here is because we are also motherland of Sri Lanka, yeah, more than 35 ACPS in Switzerland. My question is how we are investing the logistics provide today in this country. Is a we won't like to invest in the logistic sector. Is uh that the more information I will I would know that.

SPEAKER_05 28:52

Yeah. As of now, there are actually four channels, main four channels. One is um the BUI. Um so we are the particular information is uh given in addition, the the Ministry of Uh Force and Authority. So from time to time go through EOIs as well. But the general opportunities are displayed the website of C BUI, and the other one is Kalamboard City, so another channel, and um generally, like so that it has to go through uh this secondary or the primary the developers. Um now as far as the Columbo like logistics uh is concerned, Columbo the board is concerned. Now we have several um the terminals, those terminals um are operated through the private sector investments, and um we have um one with the pure owned by the government. We are exploring the possibilities of uh joining hands with uh the private investors to have public-private partnerships or join ventures, so in the future. Um the other one is DOI, or city, and public-private partnerships and join ventures. Apart from that, there is another channel what we call Strategic Um Development Act, Strategic Investment and Development Act. Accordingly, we can um take such investment through the fast track if that can be considered as a strategically important investment for stream. I think logistic uh operation would be such a strategically important because of the location and the opportunities that we have, uh the uh those factors are concerned. So it's a yeah, even like uh yeah, Makdala Airport. Um, don't know whether you have heard about this. In Hamban Totes, there is a second uh international airport called Matar. It's not operating well. Now uh the government has decided to hold for um uh interest from investors uh to come up with new proposals to operate it in a better way. Maybe within reports room, yeah, the call will come.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Thank you. Next question, gentlemen. No, he has first.

SPEAKER_07 31:31

So honourable prime minister, thank you so much for coming. I'm blessed to be a grandson of the first professor of IJ in Sri Lanka, Professor Cecil Silva. So it's my grandfather, and your aunt is staying in the La Serena, where my parents stay. So it's a small butt and Roman is a causal fine, very well known to you. Um Sri Lanka is very dear to my heart, to be honest. I'm of Sri Lanka, although I don't look like that. Apologize for that. I'm very here with Mr. Power, who is the founder of it. We want to support and engage in Sri Lanka in the health sector, like we have done that across Europe, across India, and it's something which is very important from our point of view to health is well-being. You know, to, and I think that's a huge asset in Sri Lanka for that. Second part, as you rightly say, is to educate children on the values. We have done that very successfully in India and would like to also propose that. And the third part is when I look at tourism in Sri Lanka, as a child, and I'm now 62 years, so I have many trips to Sri Lanka, more even than March. And for me, it was always a taste of paradise. Now, if I look at the tourism today in Sri Lanka, it is somehow also painful, although the numbers are very good. But I believe we can do something in terms of quality of the people. Like the German-speaking part of Europe, there's one million people who are interested in Iowa. I know I'm friendly to the Jet Will's owners. So, like that, you know, there are so much synergies, which I would like to get your guidance. Whom should I talk, or whom should we talk to who make this movement, which my grandfather started with the Family Granding Association 60 years back? How can we get ahead or work together with you?

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Thank you for that. You're right about the tourism industry in that we are also trying to shift from a focus on numbers to quality. One of the areas in the tourism sector that we think has huge potential is what you mentioned, the well-being industry. Uh, there is already jet wing is one, but there are also more uh independent uh initiatives that really uh target the well-being hospitality sector. And there's clearly a lot of potential for that, for help and well-being with our local IOB practices, but also uh, you know, other sort of spiritual, more spiritually inclined uh uh packages as well. Um the other thing that we are doing with the within the tourism industry is also to diversify the locations. Uh there are so many uh relatively unknown locations and sites in Sri Lanka that can easily be more uh tourist-friendly. Uh, and this will reduce the stress on some of the better known locations, which we also need to protect for years on. I mean, everybody knows CGI, but C Gilia also needs to be archaeologically managed and preserved. So we can't, uh you know, so what we're trying to do is we are uh we are trying to uh uh what's what I'm looking for to rehabilitate and make more popular houses of other such locations uh so that we reduce the stress on particular uh sites that we are currently experiencing. Um we would also like higher end tourism uh rather. We don't want to sound elitist and say we don't want black hackers, but that's uh we would we we are we are trying to focus on on the on the quality and the spending and the revenue rather than simply numbers. But in the initial stages, numbers were also important because we had dropped so significantly. This gave people the the confidence that this is an area that you can invest in, this is an area that you is attractive. Uh so yes, there's potential for uh collaboration in the health and well-being sector. I would say it's the tourism development authority that you need to contact and uh initiate discussions with.

SPEAKER_05 36:06

In addition, like um yes, tourism authority can be contacted, but if a particular proposal is there, yeah, so we have a separate now uh economic management committee. Yeah. Um by and large, in general, we look into that. So you can send that proposal to the finance ministry as well. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 36:23

Yeah. Because the the one thing which we are also looking into is to build a peace village in Sri Lanka. You know, like I have been in '83, in June 83, I have been in Gaul. And I mean, I don't need to tell you what this was there. I was an 18-year-old young boy at that time. And a peace village will limelite to the world, to the global world. A difference of uh resolving conflicts, they're almost conflicts, but I feel like what I can also uh uh uh with the previous speaker, uh we've I feel that you are general people and you want to change that. So that's how we could support.

SPEAKER_08 37:03

Thank you for the um matter of time. We have two and a half minutes left. So I would like short questions and short answers if that's possible, so that you can answer the airport.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

Shall we shall we take all the questions and then I just forgot to respond to questions?

SPEAKER_01 37:21

So um thank you very much. Um my name is Erika Show Klev. I'm half Swiss, half Indian, and I wear two hands I'm at the American Express Switzerland, the head of marketing, and also at the University of Singalen at the Indian Competence Center. So, given that uh role, I have two questions, and also because I just visited your country, it was one week in A Gauna, and your country says you come back for more, which I'm here now. Um the first question: Is your government engaging with the Swiss um government or EFTA to expand economic cooperation and in which areas? And secondly, um as an Indian, um as India already has uh with Sri Lanka closest economic partnerships, what are the new opportunities do you see for HI, private investors, including families, looking at long-term presence in Sri Lanka?

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Next slide, Sherman.

SPEAKER_10 38:20

Hello, Peter van Fill. I'll talk to both hats, uh especially the education one. Uh we were here in Education House uh launching the Teach Vivians Impact Fund to build education, innovation, infrastructure across the world. Uh this is one topic that I've been engaged with uh Sri Lanka since 2019, but we haven't found the funding for it. Uh the funding has always so now I'm engaging with the World Bank and ADB to see if we can uh make that happen.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

But I would like to continue this conversation at a later point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Very small. I am uh Yudesh Mandani. I am president for Sustainable Steel Manufacturing Association of India. I have my own steel plants. So thing is Sri Lanka has a coastal listing and the ports are available. So can you think of creating a circular economic park in Sri Lanka? And we would be very eager and happy to be a part of that and invest into that. Because the European Union has come up with Sivan, which says that the every goods should have a minimum carbon footprint. And for that, we need a recycling activity to be done. The courts help in doing that. So if anyway, if we can think of creating a circular economic path, we would be most interested.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Thank you. Well short.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

I'm an American veteran, uh, term financier. So as you ask for investment in uh Sri Lanka, uh, my main question is you know, we've heard about infrastructure, taxes, education. What are you doing to bolster or strengthen the Sri Lankan military? You know, as you're reforming a lot of these other current topics, that would be uh my question.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Now one last question. Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 40:19

Um I'm Ben Balanci. So we have been developing countries uh on the impact of sustainability, and that's something I missed in this conversation. How can you have our policies which can support us to come in, set up businesses, invest in it, to develop Sri Lanka? I'm I'm I don't know Sri Lanka very well, I've never been there. So that was my uh question, and also how can we use the media? For example, we have the CNN. Can we bring CNN to Sri Lanka to increase the credibility of Sri Lanka on the business and investment world and tourism also? So, how much is the policy playing on this topic?

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Okay, thank you. Let me quickly take a few questions and then Kariya will answer some of the others. Uh, with regard to our how we view India and uh our our strategic location, I think I'll be able to encourage people to see Sri Lanka as an entry point for the Indian market, right? And for the Indian investors to also see that. Uh, because our our own market is small, but we are strategically located and we are we could be the hub that uh it forms the base on which from which you can enter other markets and we offer, I think, uh uh uh uh that that capacity which are with our human capital and also with our infrastructure and our regulatory environment. So that's uh something I think that we can offer. Uh they will probably answer the more specific questions. In terms of the military, uh we we are in the process of making a military or redefining the role of the military in a way, because uh as we experienced in the cyclone, post-cyclone, also the military was heavily involved in uh relief uh efforts. Um and uh we see that as potentially an important part for the military to play uh in the future. Uh our military is uh involved in peace, uh uh peacework with the UN, and this is also something that we pursue. We want uh uh our military uh to be more technologically uh uh adept, so we are investing in uh ensuring that our military is up to speed with technology because again that's an area of risk as well, right? So these are these are the ways we're not looking to enlarge our military, but we are looking to make it more efficient and more skilled, given the changing circumstances and the changing role that the military may have to play.

SPEAKER_05 43:00

Quick answers. Um is the opportunities that's already just answered. Mainly, um the sale as a have a big market. So now we need to think of how uh your investments on the global change. So this is four. The ammonia of in hydrogen projects or to promote data centers. So that has been taken as one of the key priorities in Sri Lanka. We explore the MPs. And other sports tell you within this building networks, infrastructure, roads, railways, the ports and all, the transportation, the electrification of transportation has also been identified as another key area. And no other solution is a circular economy. This is very important one, but we know that there are lots of challenges. As you said, we uh just think of um how this we can start this particular park pertaining to a particular industry, maybe steel also. I think that that would be really um and um the tourism sector, C N N A, but uh Sri Lanka. And there are no any barriers that they want to come back to. Yeah, of course. So there are no any policy um restrictions. So we will come and further we facilitate, we'll keep in touch, obviously can facilitate and uh tourism um already like um we explained, we look at tourism as an experience or within this wide array of different uh experiences. So if diversity can be experienced in Sri Lanka, uh we would facilitate and uh bring point as well. Thank you very much. I hope we you know we answer it. Do you have encouraging policies for investors coming for the kind of sustainable? Sustainable sector. Yes, yes. Actually, green energy and sustainable. Even um we have developed uh a strategic called green financing or strategic framework for 20 uh 2026-2030, within which we look for how what industries are therefore sustainable uh the investment and sustainable financing models as well. Maybe the new concepts, you know, like um green bonds and the what matters in the future is not the short-term profits uh the seeking, but rather the long-term sustainability and inclusivity.

SPEAKER_08 46:26

Thank you very much for this lively discussion, and I'm very thrilled to you know to see witness the great interest that you have. I'm very surprised also. And I thank you all for um uh answering uh these questions thoroughly and hope we can continue this. I'm sorry we have to break it now so that uh honorable prime minister uh can take their journey down to Zurich. But um sure we will continue the dialogue like this, and uh hopefully also next year we'll be able to include Sri Lanka in the Swiss Asia night. Um we were at Indonesia night yesterday. It's amazing what they do, and I think we can do a lot also for Sri Lanka next time. So thank you very much everyone for coming and hopefully back to Sri Lanka. Thank you.