Sri Lanka is reworking how it chases foreign investment, shifting away from promotional campaigns towards legal and institutional reform, the President’s Senior Economic Advisor said on Friday.
Duminda Hulangamuwa told NewsFirst that approaching international investors and inviting them in does not by itself produce investment.
“You can’t promote FDI by going and talking to investors and asking them to come and set up industries. It won’t happen overnight. We have to do reforms in certain areas,” he said.
The country must first put the institutional framework, legal structure and infrastructure in place so investors can operate with confidence, he argued.
A one-stop shop with legal teeth
The central proposal is to strengthen the Board of Investment by amending its existing legal framework. The intention is to turn the BOI into a genuine one-stop investment centre with the legal authority to grant the approvals investors need, rather than leaving them to work through several institutions and long procedures in turn.
Hulangamuwa said the government is already drafting those amendments.
Separately, a new institution dedicated to investment promotion and research is proposed, following a proposal by the President. The 2027 Budget also flagged a new investment agency alongside a 200 percent capital allowance for large BOI investors; Friday’s remarks do not say whether the research body described here is that same agency.
Investment tied to exports
Hulangamuwa framed the strategy as inseparable from trade. The government has identified tourism and goods exports as its key foreign-currency earners, and he said attracting investment must be connected to expanding export capacity — the aim being investments that generate exports and open international market opportunities, not simply foreign companies setting up locally.
He also pointed to free trade agreements and wider market access for Sri Lankan products as part of the same effort, arguing that investment promotion cannot be separated from trade strategy.
Five countries, one-on-one
Rather than relying on large investment forums, the government has identified roughly five countries for focused engagement and intends to pursue direct, one-on-one meetings with investors in those markets.
The approach, Hulangamuwa said, would let Sri Lanka present specific opportunities and build stronger relationships with individual investors.
Not reported
The filing does not name the five target countries, does not say when the BOI amendments will reach Parliament, and gives no name, mandate or budget for the proposed promotion-and-research institution. It carries no FDI target figure, no timeline, and no account of which approvals would move to the BOI from which agencies. It also does not say in what setting Hulangamuwa was speaking.
