(COLOMBO) – The Sri Lankan Government has reached out to the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and other groups in a bid to persuade them to invest in the island-nation that has been battered by an economic slow-down, a senior most official said on Tuesday.
A special unit known as the Office for Overseas Sri Lankan Affairs or OOSLA has been set up at the Presidential Secretariat in the commercial capital of Colombo towards this end, V. Krishnamoorthy head the unit said.
“The main focus was to target the Sri Lankan Diaspora across the ethnic divide and encourage them to invest in their country of origin.
We are looking mainly at those engaged in businesses in their adopted countries and others with substantial savings.
The entire process will have the maximum transparency at all levels with investment safety guarantees.
At the start we will target Sri Lankans domiciled in Canada, the US, UK, France, Australia and Italy and thereafter to other countries well.
OOSLA will also work reach out to the Hong Kong Buddhist Cultural Association and the Mother Association in Germany.
In addition to that we will also work closely with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
“At present there is an estimated 2.5 million Sri Lankans living and working overseas with the majority embedded in West Asia” said Krishnamoorthy, who was a former Ambassador to Kenya and Saudi Arabia, Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai and Permanent Representative of the UN on Habitat and Climate Change said.
“At the core of our mission is trust building through dialogue with the Sri Lankan Diaspora and on a hybrid mode OOSLA will launch its web site on December 12 to which falls on International Migrant Day”, he said.
