Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya opened the Sri Lankan-German Business Forum 2026 as Chief Guest at ITC Ratnadipa, Colombo on Thursday, pitching the country to German investors as a maritime and logistics gateway between East and West.
The three-day forum, organised by the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Sri Lanka (AHK Sri Lanka) with the support of the German Embassy in Colombo, has been built around foreign direct investment in maritime and logistics, the Prime Minister’s Media Division said. The main conference brought together government officials, international experts and corporate leaders for sessions on maritime development, export competitiveness, infrastructure financing and investment opportunities.
The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Dr. Felix Neuman, attended alongside Martin Klose, Chief Delegate of AHK Sri Lanka. The German delegation formally presented the Prime Minister with an invitation to the Asia-Pacific Conference 2026.
Amarasuriya told the audience Sri Lanka was undergoing “a period of economic recovery and reform aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability” through fiscal consolidation, structural adjustments and governance reforms, while acknowledging the social costs of restructuring on working people, women and vulnerable communities. She pointed to the country’s improving showing on global governance and transparency indicators — including the Corruption Perceptions Index — as evidence of a more predictable investment climate.
She acknowledged Germany’s longstanding contribution to Sri Lanka’s development, particularly in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), renewable energy and broader development cooperation, and urged German firms to deepen partnerships with Sri Lankan counterparts.
The forum follows months of BOI groundwork on German investor engagement announced earlier this month, and lands within days of an EU-Sri Lanka business roundtable at which Acting Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra made a parallel maritime-hub pitch to European investors.
