This is the best auspicious time for American firms to do business with Sri Lanka, remarked Robert Hilton, Chargé d’Affaires at American Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting last week.
“American firms are eager to do business here and the U.S. Government is engaged in ways to increase bilateral trade between our countries.”
He said that there is a renewed commitment from US for the fact that the government is focusing on key areas and other fundamental values.Two weeks ago, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Mark Linscott visited Colombo and encouraged the Government of Sri Lanka to implement policies that will increase trade and improve the business climate.
“Mark emphasized that to attract more trade and investment opportunities, Sri Lanka will have to institute predictable, sound, and transparent economic policies, including taking steps to remove corruption and favoritism from government tenders.”
He also discussed removing some of Sri Lanka’s tariffs that overly burden domestic and foreign businesses. He urged the promotion of intellectual property rights and encouraged Sri Lanka to increase its own competitiveness by joining the WTO Information Technology Agreement, or ITA.
“At the same time, Mark also addressed micro-level issues.
He brought up the current one-year limit on residence visas as a barrier to foreign investment. We were told the Government of Sri Lanka will be lengthening the duration of residency visas to three years, which I am sure will be welcome news to many of you.”
When the Government of Sri Lanka takes such positive steps– after joint lobbying from the AmCham and the U.S. Government — U.S. firms will naturally migrate to Sri Lanka. As they do, Sri Lanka will be able to import more high quality U.S. goods,” he added. Currently, Sri Lanka exports $2.8 billion of goods to the United States annually while Sri Lanka only imports $269 million from the United States.
“For the benefit of both our countries, this enormous deficit needs to be closed. The Embassy will continue our engagement with the Government of Sri Lanka and the business community to address this issue.
“Our work, our shared work, is challenging, but we are all contributing toward a Sri Lanka that is more inclusive, more just, more peaceful, and more prosperous. And, through our hard work, the United States and Sri Lanka will become closer friends and allies and will do much more business together where all parties will all benefit”.
He also said that the he and Ambassador are both heartened by the increased number of American companies represented on the AmCham board.
“I believe that American companies are more engaged because the AmCham is becoming more effective, and that increased engagement in turn only improves and increases what the AmCham can achieve.” (SS)
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