Interview of H.E. Mr. Ravinatha P. Aryasinha, Ambassador of the Republic of Sri Lanka to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU

Q 1- Can you give us an overview of the actual situation in Sri Lanka since the defeat of the Tamil Tigers and the end of terrorism in mid-2009?

Having decisively defeated a separatist terror-ist organization which for 30 long years held the country at gun point, we have re-settled 90% of the over 300,000 displaced from the conflict, and are rehabilitating 12,000 ex-combatants of which over 6000, including all child soldiers, have already been reintegrated with their fami-lies. We have facilitated restoration of houses and livelihoods to most of those resettled, while ensuring education to all, including those un-dergoing rehabilitation. The Government has appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to ensure restorative justice and reconciliation, and is in discussion with all political parties from the North and the East in an effort to resolve any outstanding political issues. The economy has picked up and people have normalcy restored to their lives. Those going to work or school in the morning in any part of Sri Lanka, can be sure they will be able to get back home safely. Two years ago, we could not take that for granted.

Q 2- In the north and east of the country, a lot of infrastructure was destroyed during the conflict. What effort has gone into developing these areas?

No sooner the conflict came to an end, we commenced de-mining activities and we have cleared more than 75% of the mine contami-nated areas. The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is presently concentrating on infrastructure development, such as build-ing schools, roads, bridges, irrigation systems and reinforcement of electrical grids and tele-communication systems, which are the essen-tial needs of the people living in those areas. Many private sector entrepreneurs have also started investing in the former conflict affect-ed areas in the North and East. I am happy to note that due to these measures, from being negligible previously, the contribution to GDP from the Eastern province and the Northern province, has grown considerably.

Q 3- How do you explain the progress in the economic/financial sectors in Sri Lanka since the conflict ended?

Following the restoration of peace, Sri Lanka has entered a new era of development. The government has simplified the tax system and implemented reforms particularly aimed

at attracting foreign investment. In 2010, the economy recorded an impressive growth of 8.5%, stock prices are up nearly 250% and our stock market has become the best per-forming market in Asia. The exchange rates remained largely stable and inflation has been at single digit level. Major infrastructure pro-jects such as harbours, airports, highways, hotel complexes and power generation are laying the foundation to transform the country into an economic hub concentrating on trade, finance, travel and knowledge based indus-tries. These developments have been recog-nized by entrepreneurs and investors world-wide, the Hong Kong based Shangri-La hotel chain being the latest to join, to build a seven star luxury hotel complex in Colombo, on a property which previously housed the Army Headquarters.

Q 4- You have responsibility for Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU? What is the main focus of these relationships at present?

Our relations are multifaceted. Having overcoming terrorism and dealt with the im-mediate post conflict issues, as Sri Lanka moves into a phase of rapid development, the focus is to garner support in a region which for many decades had come to view Sri Lanka through the prism of “the conflict”. Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU have supported Sri Lanka in this period of transition, and are moving from focusing on programmes of a humanitarian nature to broader development oriented cooperation. By recently re-listing the LTTE as a terrorist organization, EU member countries have also shown sensitivity to Sri Lanka’s concerns, that despite being militarily defeated, remnant LTTE cadres and its front organizations operating in Europe continue to pose a threat to Sri Lanka, as they do to their hosts. These provide more opportunities to engage with Sri Lanka and in turn it would enhance the bi-lateral and multilateral coop-eration between us.

Q 5- Lets focus on Belgium. How would you characterise the relationship?

We have a very long relationship with Belgium. History records that in 1864 the Duke of Brabant (later to be King Leopold II in 1865) was invited to inaugurate the first train in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). The engine of that train was subsequently named “Leopold”. Since then there have been many points of contact between the two countries over time. More recently, Sri Lankans are appreciative that Belgium was one of the first countries which came forward to help in a big way during the 2004 Tsunami disaster, by sending the Belgian Army to help clear the debris in the South of the island. Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid in her capacity as the then President of the Belgian Red Cross also visited areas affected by the Tsunami to asses local needs. Relations with Belgium are pursued both bilaterally, as well as in the context of its membership in the EU. In addition we cooperate on a host of issues in multilateral forums such as the UN. In recent years cooperation has also ex-tended to the field of counter terrorism, in order to ensure that Belgian soil is not used by those hostile to Sri Lanka. Belgium has also

been one of the “early birds” in seizing on the new economic opportunities opening up in Sri Lanka since the ending of the conflict. The high point in this process was the November 2010 visit to Sri Lanka by a Belgian business delegation led by the Belgian Ambassador to Sri Lanka based in New Delhi, comprising over 50 persons from 40 companies, with interests in a wide range of products and services. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has noted that it was by far the largest business delegation to visit Sri Lanka from the West, since the resto-ration of peace. The companies that partici-pated appreciate the competitive strengths of Sri Lanka - its high environmental and labour standards, superior quality of products, reli-ability and conducive business environment. A reflection of this enthusiasm is seen in the transformation of the Belgolux-Sri Lanka Busi-ness Council (BLSLBC) into a legal entity in Belgium earlier this year.

Q 6- How important is Belgium as a trading partner to Sri Lanka?

Belgium represents Sri Lanka’s fourth largest market in the European Union. Overall trade with Belgium has grown by around 29% between 2005 and 2010, while Sri Lanka’s

exports have increased by 50% in US $ terms during the same period. Sri Lanka continues to enjoy a favorable balance of trade. The major products that Sri Lanka exports to Belgium are cut and polished diamonds, apparel and clothing, solid and pneumatic rubber tyres and rubber products, semi-precious stones, fish products, tea, coconut products, tobacco products, bicycles and horticultural products including coconut products. Sri Lanka also offers IT services to Belgian companies. Sri Lanka’s imports from Belgium include raw diamonds, malt extracts, medicines and vac-cines, pharmaceutical products, paper and paperboard products. Over the years while a major share of the two way trade has cen-tered on diamonds, in recent times we have sought to diversify our export basket and also to encourage use of Belgium as a base for Sri Lankan companies to expand into the rest of Europe. We are seeking to promote Ceylon Tea, that has huge untapped poten-tial. For instance, only 5% of the population of Belgium consumes tea, but out of that, the market share of Sri Lankan tea is only 4%. We have also identified potential for products such as activated carbon, garden decor items, organic products, herbal products, rubber

Duc de Brabant (later King Leopold II of Belgium) and his entourage during their visit to Ceylon (18th December 1864 - 4th January 1865).

Sri Lankan children in traditional cultural costumes

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products such as door mats, and furniture, that can be additionally marketed in Belgium. Similarly, the growing tourism industry in Sri Lanka has also opened new opportunities for food and beverage manufacturers and ex-porters, a sector in which Belgium always has been particularly strong. Therefore we will be seeing more of the renowned Belgian chocla-lates and beers making their way into the Sri Lankan market shortly.

Q 7- What are the prospects for Belgian investment in Sri Lanka?

Belgium is also the fourth in terms of in-vestment from countries in Europe. Belgian investors have already set up profitable ven-tures in the fields of manufacturing of tyres, lace, work-wear, tobacco, meat products, sail boats etc. availing of Sri Lanka’s investment incentives, liberalized exchange market and constitutional protection provided for their investments. There is an added advantage coming to Sri Lanka, because companies manufacturing in Sri Lanka can enter markets in the Indian sub-continent, using Sri Lanka’s existing Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan. Some leading companies such as Balteau SA, Besix Sanotec, CFE, Dredging In-ternational, that participated in the delegation to Sri Lanka last November have been able to negotiate projects in the fields of water man-agement, waste management and dredging activities in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is also emerg-ing as a global IT-BPO destination of choice in a number of key focus domain areas. The growing IT-BPO industry in Colombo offers a unique advantage for Small and Medium En-terprises (SME) to enjoy premium access to a high quality talent pool and this is a good fit for many Belgian companies. As Sri Lanka targets drawing foreign investment to the tune of 1 Billion US Dollars in 2011, we see considerable potential for leveraging Belgian capabilities towards development activities in

Sri Lanka.This process has also been encour-aged by the progressive revision by Belgium of the ‘political risk rating’, ‘credit rating’ and ‘travel advisory’ for Sri Lanka over the past 6 months.

Q 8- We understand that tourism in Sri Lanka is booming at present? What is Belgium’s contribution?

Sri Lanka has adopted a holistic approach in developing the tourism sector, to upgrade and expand the tourism infrastructure facili-ties where 30,000 new hotel rooms will be added over a 4 year period, while promoting Sri Lanka as a destination with a wide variety of activities for visitors, from what remains of its 2500 year recorded history including 8 UNESCO World heritage sites, through sunny beaches, hilly tea country, virgin forests, wild life safaris, adventure and eco tourist attrac-tions, ayurveda, sports activities, to its spicy cuisine and warm hospitality. Over 650,000 tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2010.This year, Sri Lanka Tourism is aiming for 700,000, and by 2016 the country hopes to attract 2.5 million annually. As for Belgium, in 2010 Belgian tourists visiting Sri Lanka showed an impressive growth of 106%, compared to a Western European average of 51% and an overall increase of 45%. The Belgian arrivals were only marginally short of the highest ever tourist arrivals recorded from Belgium, a sta-tistic we hope to improve on considerably this year. Besides our national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines which offers special connections for Belgian tourists flying out of Paris, Frankfurt and London, connectivity between Belgium and Sri Lanka also considerably expanded in the last quarter of 2010 with the introduction of weekly Brussels-Colombo direct flights by TUI airlines with Jetairfly-Thomas Cooke col-laboration.

Q 9- In recent years Sri Lanka has also made significant contributions to the Socio-Cultural calendar of Brussels?

We are happy to do that. The most promi-nent occasion in this regard was the perfor-mance of renowned Sitarist Pradeep Ratnaya-ka in October 2010 at the Palais des Baux Arts (BOZAR) on the sidelines of ASEM8, where we were privileged to have the President of the European Council Mr. Herman Van Rompuy as our Guest of Honour. Pradeep also performed at the European Parliament at an event organ-ized by ‘the Friends of Sri Lanka’. In Febru-ary 2010 the ‘Channa – Upuli’ dance troupe came to Brussels to perform at BELASIA and a ‘Sri Lanka food week’ was also held at the Raddisson Blu Royal Hotel. In December 2010 we hosted “Sri Lanka: Back to Business” at the Brussels Travel Expo, while we have also promoted Sri Lanka at several travel/trade fairs in Antwerp, Bruges, Charleroi and most recently at the ‘Salon des Vacances’, Belgium’s largest B2C travel fair held in February 2011. In all these ventures we are fortunate to have had the support of the small but very active Sri Lankan expatriate community in Belgium, who no doubt take great pride in seeing their heritage being showcased to their hosts.

Q 10- How much have you enjoyed living in Brussels?

The past three years I have been in Brus-sels, has been a period of transition – for my country, as well as for Belgium and the EU. This has been challenging, but also exciting. There has never been a dull moment. Amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life, Brussels with its concerts, museums and parks, has a serenity of its own. The multicultural charac-ter of those you meet, offer perspectives one would find hard to come by in any compara-ble area. The food and the chocolates were exceptional.

The Belgian Business Delegation to Sri Lanka with officials of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, November 2010