Business Roundtable with Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in the U.S. Mahinda Samarasinghe, leads to positive interest among U.S. corporate entities

Potential international investors tend to be fired up by a nation’s transparency, a positive anti-corruption stance and healthy respect for investor interest.

This powerful combination of factors blended in the atmosphere at the Business Roundtable with Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in the U.S., Mahinda Samarasinghe, which was took place in Washington D.C. on March 11, 2025, organized by the U.S. Business Council for International Understanding in collaboration with Washington Global Advisors.

The Roundtable included over twenty five representatives of corporate entities in Washington D.C., including a couple of former U.S. Ambassadors who served in Sri Lanka in the past and who now serve on Boards of major US companies. The participants were mindful of the major political changes that have recently taken place in Sri Lanka and the U.S. In fact, their interest in investing in Sri Lanka appeared to have re-ignited because of the political changes in Sri Lanka, in particular, the focus on anti-corruption of Sri Lanka’s new government.

At the outset of his introduction to the discussion, Ambassador Samarasinghe drew pertinent reference to the dire financial crisis that Sri Lanka faced in 2022 and the perception in Sri Lankan society over a period of time that economic mismanagement, nepotism and corruption, and governance sans checks and balances contributed to the eventual collapse. He spoke of his own efforts to throw a lifeline to Sri Lanka by initiating the initial engagement with the IMF by proposing to the IMF Managing Director to send a high-level IMF team to speak with the then President that lead to the eventual EFF program, and expressed his appreciation of “the enormous support” the country received from the U.S. during the process, especially the vital role the U.S. Treasury played in Sri Lanka securing the Extended Fund Facility.

The Ambassador traced Sri Lanka’s remarkable recovery from negative growth to its current positive growth, the anticipated 5% growth in 2025, and its current capacity to fund almost 4 months of imports. He drew attention to the vigorously renewed investor interest in the country following this miraculous recovery. Moreover, he said, the IMF is endorsing Sri Lanka as a model of a country committed to continuity of economic policy with unfazed confidence in the private sector as the country’s engine of growth, despite a change of government and changes in political leadership.

The Ambassador made a compelling case for Sri Lanka’s attraction to potential foreign investors, focusing on current political stability achieved through a strong mandate from the people for system change and anti-corruption reform. He also revisited Sri Lanka’s well-publicized pluses to draw foreign investment, particularly its 92% literacy rate, the highest in South Asia, a skilled labor force that never fails to impress foreign investors, and the strategic location sitting at the cross roads of the busiest sea lanes in the Indian Ocean, and constitutional guarantees afforded to foreign direct investment.

The Ambassador spoke of different foreign investment opportunities that are currently available to U.S. companies, and of synergies that could be established through bilateral cooperation to achieve freedom of navigation for U.S. trade in the Indian Ocean region.  The Ambassador made special references to the port city development and the incentives offered such as the 25 year tax holiday and the oil tank facility in Trincomalee with its connection to the Trincomalee harbor one of the finest deep water natural harbors in the world, which the British naval fleet in the Indo pacific used very effectively until the mid 1950s.

Commenting on current enhanced bilateral relations between the U.S. and Sri Lanka, the Ambassador said he is focusing on investment opportunities in Sri Lanka for new export products, and at the same time, seeking investment opportunities in the U.S.  for Sri Lankan companies.

The prospect of an iron-clad partnership between the public and the private sectors, for example in state-owned enterprises appeared to be an attraction to the participating organizations at the Business Roundtable, as an added reason to consider investing in Sri Lanka in the future.

Above all, what stood out as a winner to attract U.S. companies to invest in Sri Lanka, is Sri Lanka’s President Dissanayake’s intention to digitalize the economy and provide a level playing field to all foreign investors, while ensuring transparency and corruption-free investor dealings at every turn. 

Please contact the Economic and Commercial Section of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D.C. at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Youtube link for the video
https://youtu.be/qoKT1wjBHCk?si=FLR9qNZnRPaGv5SC

List of Participants