Sri Lankan expatriate heads BOI
View(s):The Board of Investment (BOI) would be steered by the Sri Lankan business builder from Australia Dr. Lakshman Jayaweera to steer the country’s premier investment promotion and facilitation agency.
Dr. Lakshman Jayaweera
“Dr Jayaweera’s appointment as Chairman/Director General of the BOI by H.E the President comes at a crucial juncture when Sri Lanka, having emerged from three decades of conflict in 2009, needs to effectively promote investment in order to achieve the goals set by the Government for the BOI,” a release issued by the investment agency stated. The Business Times earlier this week exclusively reported the new appointment.
It is hoped the new appointment would pave the way for a new promotional strategy on FDI attraction, which will implement the current goals taking into account global changes, the release said.
Among these goals are development of a number of thrust sectors namely tourism, manufacturing, IT and IT enabled services and infrastructure.
The BOI pointed out that the appointment of a BOI Chairman with an overseas private sector background “will help Sri Lanka attract more investments at a time when global inflows of FDI have fallen, but where developed economies are expected to recover partly from the global recession.”
Dr Jayaweera is a Sydney-based chemical engineer who built a leading resource recovery and chemical company called HydroMet Corporation Ltd to be an industry leader. He has over 35 years of experience in worldwide corporate and business ventures, resource development, alternative energy, environmental and chemical sector in Australia and elsewhere, the statement read.
BOI companies employ over 450,000 workers and account for nearly 60 per cent of Sri Lankan exports and 80 per cent of the country’s industrial exports.
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