The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) has hosted a knowledge‑sharing workshop with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), focusing on strategies for attracting and promoting Foreign Direct Investment.
The session forms part of the bilateral Trade and Investment Facilitation Agreement (TIFA) Action Plan between Sri Lanka and Australia.
The workshop outlined Austrade’s approach to productive FDI, its priority sectors, and investor engagement methods, offering practical insights to inform BOI’s evolving investment attraction strategy.
Delivering the keynote address, Australian High Commissioner Mathew Duckworth emphasized Sri Lanka’s competitive advantages: “The way that Sri Lanka can maximize this is by ensuring you have domestic settings that will attract the investment… to harness the value from your skilled workforce and strategic location.”
The programme was conducted by Andrew Carter, Austrade’s Trade and Investment Commissioner, with welcome remarks by BOI Chairman Duminda Hulangamuwa, who underscored the importance of deepening bilateral cooperation on investment promotion.
Austrade, recognized globally as a leading investment promotion agency, shared best practices on sectoral targeting, investor lifecycle management, branding, and digital enablers. Sessions covered pipeline management, case studies from Austrade’s India Investment Team, and inter‑agency coordination frameworks involving Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The workshop is expected to strengthen BOI’s institutional capacity to engage with quality investments, enhance sector‑specific promotion, and inform value proposition briefs for Sri Lanka’s mineral and education sectors.
