Australia committed to boosting cooperation with Sri Lankan universities, R&D institutions

 

On 20 February Australian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka David Holly and Australian High Commission for New Delhi Education and Research Counselor Brett Galt-Smith visited the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote academic cooperation and collaboration between Australian institutions and Sri Lankan universities and research and development institutions.

He was appreciating Australia's immense contribution to strengthening research at Sri Lankan universities and research and development institutions through capacity building and skills enhancement. NSF Chairman Prof. Ranjith Senaratne discussed possible areas for expanding cooperation between the two countries which would be mutually rewarding.

The High Commissioner reiterated Australia's commitment to improving cooperation with Sri Lanka and highlighted the importance of establishing an overarching national structure to promote such collaboration.

During the convention several areas identified for cooperation, including natural resource management, agriculture, aquaculture, health and disaster management, in line with the national policy of Sri Lanka and core competencies of Australia. The NSF will be closely liaising with the Australian High Commission to take the two countries' partnership to a new level. In the discussion also participated senior NSF administrative and scientific staff.

At last week's auditorium on 'Bilateral Trade between Sri Lanka and Australia – Defining Sri Lanka – Australia Trade and Investment: The Mutual Interest' the High Commissioner made this statement while tackling the National Chamber of Commerce (NCC).

Australia and Sri Lanka have achieved 28 consecutive years of annual economic growth, according to the High Commissioner. Australia has the 11th highest per capita GDP in the world, and is the wealthiest nation in terms of moderate wealth per adult, and is the 6th most significant pool of investment funds under management in the world.

The High Commissioner also noted that Sri Lanka is now on the map for Australian tourists with 110,000 tourists in 2018 – the fifth-largest source of tourists. Australia remains interested in investing in Sri Lanka in areas such as higher education, premium food and beverage, dairy agro-technology, port development and related industries, and energy and resources.

OSL Take: The announcement by the Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka is a positive note on the growing bilateral and trade ties amongst the two countries. Due to the rise in trade among the two countries, Australian businesses/investors could look at manipulating the benefits enjoyed by Sri Lanka in global trade. Sri Lanka's geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the ease of doing business environment in the country and the many trade agreements, as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the state, have made it an attractive commercial destination in the South Asian region.

 VBS/AT/20200907/Z_TB1