Expansion of economic relations in the atmosphere of peace and stability prevailing in the country was the central focus of the bilateral discussions which took place in Singapore on Monday 28th July 2014, between Professor G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs, and Mr. K. Shanmugam, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Law of Singapore. The Ministers took advantage of the opportunity to reflect on current developments in Sri Lanka and the region.
Professor Peiris told his Singaporean counterpart that the tourism sector has been identified by the government of Sri Lanka as a key growth area in the resurgence of the economy. The Foreign Minister of Singapore expressed satisfaction that Sri Lanka has achieved significant success in attracting major investors including internationally renowned Asian hotel chains such as Shangri-La, Aman Group, Banyan Tree and the Mustafa Group of Singapore to develop the tourism sector in Sri Lanka. He was happy that Sri Lanka had selected Singapore to launch the first Foreign Investment Forum in January this year with the participation of the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka in association with Bloomberg Data Services of Singapore. This had enabled Sri Lanka, he said, to project a strong message of preparedness for fast tracking investment into the country.
The two Ministers discussed opportunities for investors from Singapore and across South East Asia in a variety of fields such as knowledge based industries, information technology parks, infrastructure and township development, the healthcare sector and water management resources. Prof. Peiris expressed Sri Lanka’s wish to seek more employment avenues in the skilled category for Sri Lankan workers.
The Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka and Singapore noted the growing co-operation in the defence and security spheres between the two countries. They were convinced that the sharing of perspectives and expertise is contributing in substantial measure to curbing terrorism, transnational crimes and other security threats in the region. As a regular participant in the Security Summit, ‘The Shangri-La Dialogue’, Sri Lanka has played a vigorous role in shaping the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific region.
Minister Peiris appreciated the continuing co-operation of the Singaporean government in the process of national reconciliation in Sri Lanka and, in particular, in the vocational training and skills development area.
He thanked the government of Singapore for providing forty short term training opportunities last year to enhance the skills and knowledge of officials in the public sector.
Given Sri Lanka’s position as Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth, the Ministers discussed priorities with regard to current programmes of the Commonwealth, with special reference to issues relating to post-2015 sustainable development goals, South-South collaboration in the field of trade, and the economy of small nation States. They agreed to remain in constant touch as these issues, vital for Asian countries, come up for discussion at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Ministry of External Affairs
Colombo
30 July 2014
http://www.mfa.gov.lk/
