New Economic Agency to attract bigger and better FDI
A new Economic Agency targeting foreign investment, possibly with more powers than the Board of Investment (BOI), is to be set up next year in a move to fast track and attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).
The agency will come under the Minister of International Trade Malik Samarawickrama who has appointed a committee of business leaders and other stakeholders to drive this initiative. Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy, newly-appointed advisor to the ministry, is assisting the committee which is chaired by eminent economist Dr. Saman Kelegama, one official said.
Business leaders such as MAS Holdings Chairman Mahesh Amalean; CEO of Brandix Ashrof Omar; Jeevan Gnanam, CEO of Orion City; CEO NDB R. Theagarajah, Ajit Gunewardene, Deputy Chairman John Keells Holdings along with other prominent names are in this high profile committee. According to an official, the committee is charged with developing a structure and format for the new agency which will be equipped with laws, empowering it to be a one stop shop with overriding powers (of other ministries, etc) in order for faster approvals.
“When a foreign investor comes to the BOI, they need to get more than 20 approvals and fill out much paperwork. What the new Economic Agency aims to do is shorten this and prune the length of time,” he said.
He said the committee has met twice already and that they arrived at important milestones. “The committee is first trying to get rid of the roadblocks and devise a plan on securing large FDI. For this they are targeting sectors such as IT tourismand industrial,” the official added, noting that all these initiatives will fall under the new agency.