The 2nd collective meeting of Sri Lankan Honorary Consuls in Germany chaired by Ambassador Karunatilaka Amunugama was held at the Sri Lanka Honorary Consulate in Munich on 29th July 2015. The first meeting had been held last year in November at Berlin
The Ambassador briefed the Sri Lanka Honorary Consuls on the current political and socio-economic developments in Sri Lanka and the initiatives taken in the recent past in strengthening the long-standing friendly relations between Sri Lanka and Germany.
He briefed the Honorary Consuls on the outcome of the visit by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to Germany in May 2015 on invitation of German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and requested the assistance of all Honorary Consuls for a follow-up of the decisions taken during the visit, especially to strengthen economic relations and emphasizing finding potential German investors for Sri Lanka. The continued dialogue and meetings with entrepreneurs, especially in the SME sector in respective regions assigned for each and every Honorary Consul, were emphasized and detailed on the avenues available under Sri Lanka’s current foreign policy.
Focussing on the strengthening of German-Sri Lankan economic and trade relations, a presentation on the “Business environment in Sri Lanka” was made available, and the opportunity was provided for all Honorary Consuls to update Ambassador Amunugama on their activities during the last six months and their programmed activities for the next six months of the year. The interaction also provided ample opportunity for the Honorary Consuls to express their views on the means and ways to promote and strengthen bilateral relations with the respective German states, and all Honoary Consuls assured their fullest cooperation for furthering two countries relations.
On 28th July, Ambassador Amunugama also had meetings with Ministerial Councillor Mr. Ulrich Konstantin Rieger of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media and the Founding President of the Tourist Board Oberbayern, Mr. Robert Salzl, during his stay in Munich.
Bavaria has long had one of the largest economies of any region in Germany, or Europe for that matter. Its GDP in 2007 exceeded 434 billion Euros (about 600bn US$). This makes Bavaria itself one of the largest economies in Europe, and only 17 countries in the world have a higher GDP than Bavaria. Some large companies headquartered in Bavaria include BMW, Siemens, Rohde & Schwartz, Audi, Munich Re, Allianz, Infineon, MAN, Wacker Chemie, Puma and Adidas. Bavaria has a GDP per capita of over $48,000 US, meaning that if it were its own independent country it would rank 7th or 8th in the world. Bavaria is also the largest and second most popular state of Germany. Taking note of the above, Ambassador Amunugama invited leading Bavarian companies to consider an increase in investing in Sri Lanka, a country which is strategically important in the Indian Ocean while opening markets to India and Pakistan through it’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with those countries.
Councillor Rieger was impressed of the briefing by Ambassador Amunugama on the progress made by the Sri Lanka Government in the aftermath of the Presidential Elections in the field of good governance, reconciliation and anti-corruption procedures and expressed his enthusiasm in sending Bavarian investors to Sri Lanka for a strengthening of cooperation in the field of investment with Sri Lanka as well as in organizing business interactions with the Bavarian Business community in Munich.
Sri Lanka Honorary Consul for Munich Hans Hammer hosted the 2nd Collective Meeting and the next round of discussions with the Sri Lanka Honorary Consuls in Germany is scheduled for end of this year in Hamburg.
31 JULY 2015
SRI LANKA EMBASSY
BERLIN