3 June 2022 12:00 am
The virtual roundtable on ‘Investment Facilitation for Development: How Asian and Pacific Economies will Benefit’ was held recently, in Bangkok, Thailand, co-organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and World Economic Forum (WEF).
Speaking on the theme of ‘Which investment facilitation measures are most important’, Board of Investment (BOI) Director General Renuka Weerakone stated, “The BOI recently launched its Strategic Framework for the next five years, which presents a strategic approach in targeting and securing significantly higher levels of quality and sustainable foreign direct investment (FDI) for Sri Lanka, which would contribute substantially to the government’s economic development agenda by creating employment opportunities, increasing export revenue and developing infrastructure.”
Weerakone highlighted, “Within this framework, investment facilitation has been identified as a core stimulator under the overall investment policy, with a view to ensuring an efficient, transparent and predictable business climate.”
Further, she mentioned, “Investment facilitation has been recognised as a key measure for post-pandemic recovery of the economy. In the broader context of facilitation, the BOI engages with investors from the point of first inquiry by providing detailed information on the investment climate, priority sectors, investment incentives, country competencies and locational advantages.”
In order to streamline the approval process, the BOI has adopted several measures to enhance investment facilitation, including the Investor Facilitation Centre and digitalisation of the organisation specially to handle customs functions more effectively. She also stated that the BOI is focusing on facilitation in order to encourage the existing investors to reinvest and expand their operations.
She concluded by saying that in order to facilitate investors, the BOI has taken various measures to assist the BOI enterprises to continue with their operations despite various challenges.