Amunugama was making the keynote address at the Sri Lanka Expo 2012 — Trade, Investment and Tourism Symposium at the Colombo Hilton.

The symposium followed the inauguration of the Sri Lanka Expo 2012 by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Cultural Hall.

Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne inaugurated the second day of the expo.

Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris and Senior Minister for Urban Development Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie and other senior government officials attended the morning sessions.

Economic and Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa will open today’s show.

The mega event has attracted more than 1,400 delegates from 60 countries. It is sponsored by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) which functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, headed by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

“Strategic location coupled with availability of cheap but intelligent labor and the required infrastructure makes it a viable hub in the Indian Ocean,” Amunugama said. The island becomes more important, the minister said, since the current growth area has been identified as the Middle East and the Far East.

“We are centrally located between the two major growth areas,” he stressed.

“There are significant demographic transitions taking place that may foresee the region giving rise to a powerful labor force.

Analysts estimate that by 2020, South Asia will have the youngest labor force in the world, with 18 million people being added to the working-age population every year for the next 20 years.10 The region’s middle-class has also experienced significant growth, experiencing a 12 percent surge on an annual basis since 2000.

“It is estimated that by 2025, South Asia may have a middle-class of around one billion people, with India projected to have the largest middle-class in the world at that point. This growth will have important implications in terms of regional trade, with Sri Lanka standing to gain significantly from the increase in purchasing power among its neighbor’s middle class.”

On its part, Sri Lanka, under the able leadership of President Rajapaksa, has been developing its communication and road networks at an accelerated speed to cope with the increasing demand in the coming years, Amunugama said.

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivad Cabraal said the government has planned to transform Sri Lanka into a strategically important economic hub by developing five strategic hubs (knowledge hub, commercial hub, naval or maritime hub, aviation hub, and energy hub).

In his remarks at the event, Minister Bathiudeen said: “I am considering to promote the Sri Lanka Expo event in future as a must-see export event in the Asian region similar to the renowned Anuga Foodtech Fair which takes place in Germany.”

“No serious food-processing industry in the world ignores the Anuga Fair. Similarly, we should strive to make Sri Lanka Expo to be known as a trend setting, a must see trade and investment event in Asia in future which no serious international importer or investor would want to miss.”

Bathiudeen described the expo as a significant event that had drawn interest from all parts of the world.