India keen to help Lanka set up industry in war ravaged areas

India with experience in special economic zones is keen to help Sri Lanka in setting up industrial parks and investment zones at Kilinochchi and Trincomalee in the north and the east, freed from Liberation of Tamil Tigers Elem (LTTE) in May.

The Sri Lankan government has announced a 15-year tax holiday for investment in the north and the east, areas dominated by LTTE for over 30 years.

"An Indian interest in this area is likely to be welcomed," a paper prepared by Indian High Commission in Colombo said.

The paper circulated at a meeting of Indian businessmen with visiting Sri Lankan Minister of Investment Promotion Navin Dissanayake said that there might also be opportunities in Anuradhapura (North Central).

The High Commission report said the Sri Lankan government intends to set up industrial parks and investment zones in Kilinochchi and Trincomalee.

Addressing the meeting organised by CII here, Dissanayake said an armed conflict that engulfed his country for more than three decades was behind them.

Projecting Sri Lanka as an equal partner, Dissanayake sought investment from India "not with a begging bowl, nor as a little brother appealing to the big brother for a piece of the pie, but as a friendly neighbour and an equal partner in the community of nations".