Sabry urges Japan to invest in infrastructure and IT

Sri Lanka, strengthened by the recent agreement reached with international creditors for the restructuring of 5,6 billion dollars of debt, urges Japan to make further investments in the country, contributing to the revival of the Sri Lankan economy and guaranteeing Colombo a further point of diplomatic reference as well as India and China.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry declared this in an interview with the Japanese newspaper “Nikkei”.

“We expect Japan-financed projects to start any time now” thanks to the debt restructuring deal, the minister said, referring to a series of projects financed in recent years by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) but never started, including the construction of a light railway in Colombo and the expansion of the international airport serving the capital.

“The expansion of the airport is very important. We want to make it a global hub,” Sabry explained. In 2020, Japanese engineering group Taisei won a 62 billion yen ($383 million at current exchange rates) heat contract for the second phase of the expansion of Bandaranaike International Airport, about 30 kilometers north of Colombo. The contract also included the construction of a four-storey passenger terminal, with the works being completed in 2023.