“The investment climate in the North has changed for the better and this is the time for local and especially the Tamil diaspora to consider investing in the North again,” said Governor of the Northern Province Nagalingam Vedanayagam.
He was speaking at the launch of the Lanka Exhibitions’(LECS) Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF), 15th edition, at the Muttraweli grounds on Friday.
The Governor said that with the LTTE conflict the North fell way behind compared to the other regions in the island. Even after hostilities ceased, investments did not take off in the region due to bureaucratic red tape and various other issues.
“However, with the change of Government and the Rule- of- Law being established, a conducive economic climate prevails in the North once again. We are now awaiting investors and this is the best time for them to crash in”, he said.
“There are many investment opportunities in the Fisheries, Agriculture, Tourism and Hotel sectors.
“Today, we also see paddy farmers using advanced technology which has resulted in high yields,” he added.
“Similarly Agro and the industrial sectors are looking to access high tech and value addition. This is also an area where investors could join the entrepreneurs in the North in Joint ventures”, Vedanayagam said.
He said transport links too have been strengthened to the North with 100 km plus fast train from the Colombo Fort, air and sea connectivity with KKS a ferry service to India and daily flights between Palali and Chennai.
The Chief Operating Officer of LECS, Husnie Rauf tracing the roots of JITF said, “This Jaffna-based event was inaugurated in 2002 when the peace process between the Government and the LTTE was ushered in, where we had 150 companies coming from Colombo.”
“After this initial stage, we could not continue the event due to many constraints and the Jaffna Trade Fair re-commenced only in 2010, a year after the complete cessation of the conflict. However, today it has helped many companies in the North to move to the next level and even export their products.”
“This trade fair played the role of an icebreaker bridging the North and the South at a time when sentiments were running high soon after the end of the hostilities.
Through this event, companies from the South were able to garner confidence to showcase their products in the North and expand their markets, he said.
As a special CSR initiative in Jaffna, ‘JITF: A Plastic Neutral Event’, to promote a plastic and polyethylene-free environment by setting up waste management stations has also got off the ground” Rauf said and added “We will also help in many other CSR initiatives”.
The JITF which ends today (Sunday) attracted over 300 stalls thereby strengthening a range of small and medium enterprises with island-wide products and services, he added.
