Sri Lanka pleads to Japan to resume investment projects amid financial crisis
Sri Lanka invited Japan to resume investment in projects including power, roads and ports as the Japanese foreign minister wrapped up the first high-level visit to the crisis-hit country in nearly four years on Saturday.
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Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said his country was seeking Japanese investment in sectors such as power, infrastructure, and dedicated investment zones, as well as in the green and digital economies.
“Japan is a trusted partner, and with clear indicators of Sri Lanka’s gradual economic recovery, both the President and I invited Japan to resume the Japanese investment project which are currently in the pipeline and invited fresh investment from Japan in several sectors such as power, infrastructure, including port and highways sectors, dedicated investment zones as well as the green and digital economy,” Sabry said during a press conference.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who is in Colombo as part of a multi-country diplomatic tour, did not respond publicly to Sabry’s investment invitation but said Japan was looking forward to cooperating with the Indian Ocean Rim Association, which Sri Lanka will chair from October.
Japan’s historically vibrant relations with Sri Lanka cooled after the island unilaterally suspended a USD 2 billion light railway project in 2020.
Ties improved in recent months after President Ranil Wickremesinghe appealed to Tokyo to help the South Asian nation weather its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.