Crisis-hit Sri Lanka invites Japan to resume investment

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Saturday invited Japan to resume investment in projects including power, roads and ports, after the Japanese foreign minister wrapped up the first high-level visit to the crisis-hit country in nearly four years.

Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said his country was seeking Japanese investment in sectors such as power, infrastructure, dedicated investment zones as well as in the green and digital economies.

“We are confident that Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, which has made a promising start, and future growth prospects will provide us with greater opportunities to enhance the Japan-Sri Lanka relationship,” Sabry said.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is in Colombo as part of a multi-country diplomatic tour including India, South Africa, Uganda, and Ethiopia. His next stop will be the Maldives.

Sri Lanka, which lies along key shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, has become a hot spot for influence between India and Japan on the one side and China on the other.

Japan is Sri Lanka’s second biggest bilateral lender, after China, with about $2.7 billion in outstanding loans, according to latest finance ministry data. India is the third key creditor.