Sri Lanka offers immense opportunities for Malaysian investors, especially in infrastructure development, and Malaysia should capitalise on its good bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka to have a bigger presence in the country, Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Azmi Zainuddin said.

The Sri Lanka government is determined to attract investments to the country after the end of the 30-year-long civil war in 2009, he said.

“Malaysian companies have always been here, even during the war, especially in the telecommunications and infrastructure segment. Now there are more opportunities available and we should take advantage of it,” he told Bernama.

Among others, the hospitality industry is booming is Sri Lanka, he said.

“In Colombo, there is a lot of construction for new hotels, and they are big players in the industry,” he said, adding Jaffna and the Eastern Province, which are yet to be fully developed, offer immense opportunities.

Malaysia should capitalise on its good bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka to have a bigger presence in the country, he said.

He said people-to-people ties are also good, with tourist arrivals from Sri Lanka reaching 64,051 last year, a two per cent increase from 62,821 in 2012, Bernama reported.

This year, Tourism Malaysia expects a total of 70,000 tourists from Sri Lanka.

According to reports, Malaysia’s private sector investment in Sri Lanka to date has topped US$1.5 billion.

According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, bilateral trade in 2013 between both countries stood at US$577.66 million, with exports from Sri Lanka at US$44.92 million and imports at US$532.74 million.