Hon’ble Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles of India along with Hon’ble Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development, Hon’ble Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry & Commerce and Hon’ble Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation, Hon’ble A.H.M. Fawzie, Senior Minister for Urban Affairs and Hon’ble Mr. Douglas Devananda, Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development together inaugurated “The India Show - Land of Limitless Opportunities” at BMICH, Colombo on 3 August 2012.

In his address, Hon’ble Minister Anand Sharma highlighted India’s abiding commitment to being a friend and a partner of Sri Lanka in meeting its aspirations of growth and development and announced the intention of both the governments to double bilateral trade by the year 2015. Hon’ble Minister, after his discussions with the Sri Lankan leadership, announced that India would be assisting Sri Lanka in the establishment of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Engineering Goods and Automobile Components, which would be located near Trincomalee and would produce goods that would link up with production chains in India. The proposed Engineering and Automobile components hub would also have a Skill Training Institute, to train local youth and enhance their employability at the production units in this Special Economic Zone. In addition, Hon. Anand Sharma also announced that India and Sri Lanka will work together towards establishing a Pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in Sri Lanka, capitalizing on the vast strides made by the Indian Pharmaceutical industry in meeting the requirements of quality drugs worldwide at affordable prices. It was agreed to setup a Joint Task Force to make concrete recommendations in this regard. The Task Force will submit its report within 90 days and would also work on the establishment of the two SEZs. The Indian members of the Joint Task Force have been shared with the Sri Lankan side.

Hon. Anand Sharma, highlighting the global trend of formation of regional trade blocks and bilateral Economic Agreements, unlined the need for economic integration within South Asia, which he said could be part of the larger Asian trade and economic architecture. He pointed out that India had recently overtaken Japan as the third largest economy in PPP terms. He called on Sri Lanka to utilize the expertise of Indian firms in area like infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, science and technology, information technology, vocational training, etc. and argued that institutional linkages would help tap the potential in these areas. He also assured that India did not seek reciprocity in the trade and economic relationship with Sri Lanka and would be happy to provide Sri Lanka preferential access to the large Indian market.

In his remarks, Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka, stated that the signing of India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement in 1998 was a significant and historic milestone in the trade partnership with India. He underlined that synergy between Indian and Sri Lankan businesses was a competitive necessity. Citing facts and figures, he noted that India was one of the top 5 foreign investors in Sri Lanka. Indian investments in Sri Lanka, which were US$ 24 million in 2000, rose to US$ 600 million in 2011. He invited Indian corporates to be part of the Sri Lankan growth story and to sustain the remarkable growth momentum of the last three years, in the future. He assured Indian investors that Sri Lanka would offer a safe and friendly environment for their investments.

Addressing the inaugural session, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister of International Monetary Cooperation, quoted H.E. the President of Sri Lanka as having characterized the unique relationship with India when he had stated: “We are friends of all countries of the world, but India is our relative”. He said ‘India Show’ was a special occasion because of the special relationship between the two countries. He pointed out that the end of armed conflict had served to unleash Sri Lanka’s growth potential. Today Sri Lanka had created a platform for peaceful and rapid growth which investors should capitalize upon. Sri Lanka was investing heavily in infrastructure, particularly in the North and East, which could not be brought into the growth process during the war. He called on Indian companies, which he said were some of the best in the world, should take up infrastructure works in Sri Lanka. He argued that Sri Lanka’s strategic geographic location and the new infrastructural facilities coming up, would be attractive for Indian investors. He stressed that Sri Lanka was one of the possible high growth centers of the world. He argued that Sri Lanka, with its impressive record in health and hygiene, longevity, literacy in the region, would be ideal for entrepreneurs to invest. He called on Indian investors to take advantage of Sri Lanka’s ‘Strategic Investments Law’ and suggested regular interactions with each other, to maximize the utilization of each other’s potentials and opportunities.

In his address to the CEO’s Forum on 4 August 2012, Hon. Anand Sharma said another task force would be set up on textiles to help revive loss-making textile companies in Sri Lanka. An Indian textile delegation will arrive in September 2012 to discuss various issues in this regard. A delegation of Pharma companies would be visiting Sri Lanka in August to discuss possibilities in the pharma sector. He also offered to sign a Customs Cooperation Agreement that would help work towards harmonizing customs procedures on both sides, to facilitate exports from Sri Lanka to India.

Colombo