COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has urged US businesses to come to Sri Lanka highlighting the country’s investment prospects and also the quality of life addressing the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington. A roundtable discussion was attended by members of the US Chamber of Commerce South Asia team, representatives from Coca Cola, Exxon Mobil, Ventch Engineering LLC, McLarty Associates, Bower Group Asia USIBC, CIPE, Mastercard, FedEx, Trimble Navigation Ltd. Minister Karunanayake had drawn attention to opportunities in areas such as infrastructure development, agro processing, health care, export oriented manufacturing and the tourism sector, The US embassy in Washington said.
The US is Sri Lanka’s largest export market with bilateral trade at 3.3 billion US dollars. In 2016 US had bought 28 percent of Sri Lanka’s exports. Minister Karunanayake is in Washington leading a delegation to attend the IMF-World Bank spring meetings, where a deal to take forward a Fund program is to be struck. The IMF deal is aimed at strengthening Sri Lanka’s economic fundamentals and government finances.