Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath invited Victorian investors to explore opportunities in Port City Colombo, pitching the special economic zone as a gateway for trade, investment and infrastructure growth, during the Sri Lanka–Victoria Industry Roundtable in Melbourne.
The roundtable was hosted by Global Victoria at the Victorian Investment Centre and facilitated by Danni Jarrett, Deputy Secretary for Industry, Trade and Investment at the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry & Regions, Newswire reported. Australian business representatives from aviation, infrastructure, education, sport and tourism joined the discussions.
Herath also asked the Victorian government to promote Sri Lanka as a safe, attractive and promising tourist destination, and said on X that the talks focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, tourism and education.
The Melbourne pitch is part of a wider investor outreach for the Port City Colombo special economic zone, which has secured around USD 900 million in foreign direct investment over the first five months of operation and granted strategic business status to six firms in early May. A separate Port City investor roadshow is scheduled for Dubai on June 11.
The Melbourne roundtable extends the Australia leg of Herath’s New Zealand–Australia tour, which has already produced trade and tourism talks with Victorian MPs on May 31 and earlier bilateral engagement in Wellington with NZ FM Winston Peters.
