Can Sri Lanka be “China Plus One” country for Japanese investors?

OUR proposal on 5 August 2025, at the Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka-Japan Business Council, to create an exclusive Export Processing Zone for Japan —will it be a reality?

- By Athulla R.F. Edirisinghe

It may be the right time now, with Japanese preferred Anti-Corruption and Transparency policies in place, for the Government to give thought to setting up an exclusive Export Processing Zone for potential Japanese investors.

Success stories of Neemrana Industrial Zone in Rajasthan, India and Bangladesh Special Economic Zone (BSEZ), also a Japanese-invested industrial zone on the outskirts of Dhaka, gives us a clear signal of the direction we need to follow.

It may be prudent to establish a zone closer to the Colombo Port which has a huge advantage against any ports in the region.

A zone closer to Colombo has an absolute advantage in terms of global supply chain, particularly compared to ones in Bangladesh, because Sri Lanka has an FTA with India, which is now becoming the favoured opportunity for many Japanese companies as “China Plus One” destination for their global supply chain strategy.