Economy

Trade and investment activities in Sri Lanka benefit from the country’s location along busy Indian Ocean trade routes, abundant agricultural and industrial exports, and a young, skilled workforce. Just 19 km separate its southern-most port from a global shipping lane carrying two-thirds of the world’s oil and half of its container shipments. This makes local ports a natural staging post for...

Sri Lanka has long served as an important strategic destination in the Indian Ocean, catering to merchants and travellers from South-east Asia, India, the Middle East and East Africa. While much of the country’s recent history has been tainted by a decades-long civil war, post-conflict euphoria brought with it a sense of renewal and optimism. A coalition administration elected in 2015 pledged...

This chapter contains selected listings of some of the country’s top hotels, contact details for embassies, ministries and organisations, helpful tips for business and leisure travellers and other useful suggestions for travel to Sri Lanka.

The UAE continues to spend heavily on its military capabilities, while at the same time pushing to expand its domestic defence-related manufacturing industries, as a means both to better protect its own national security and to contribute to diversifying its economy away from oil and gas. Significant agreements point to the long-term success of the goal of developing a domestic industry, even...

In both Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE, diversification away from the hydrocarbons sector is a key component of economic planning, and the emirate is moving to increase the role of non-oil exports in its trading profile. This will largely be supported by continued investment in the emirate’s port infrastructure, industrial and free zones, and the connectivity between the two. Agreements with...