Sri Lankan expatriates seek US support

Sri Lankan expatriates – most of whom are professionals in the fields of investment, technology, global entertainment, gaming industry, public diplomacy and foreign affairs – in the State of Nevada, in the US continued their discourses with U.S. Senator Catherine Cotez Masto to facilitate Sri Lanka to move out of the current economic crisis.

Masto is one of the Washington lawmakers who is on pivotal Financial and Banking Committees which are entrusted with international trade, finance and economic policies, US-based sources said.

A two-hour dialogue, on October 8, between the officials of the State of Nevada-based Sri Lanka-America Association and Senator Cotez-Masto covered the areas of foreign affairs between the two nations, trade and economic issues among many other topics that concerned the Senator’s portfolio of economic policies.

Less than one year old, the Sri Lanka-America Chamber of Commerce, a nationally-focused organization, founded by the Sri Lankan expatriates, in the State of Nevada, to promote trade, commerce and investment between the two nations, attended the discourse with its Executive President Sanje Sedera.

Both the Association and the Chamber are constantly in contact with lawmakers and policymakers in Washington to bring a closer understanding between the two nations, to identify issues related to trade and investment.

The meeting that took place last week, with the U.S. Senator Cotez-Masto, was one such discourse.

The officials of the Association and the Chamber brought to the attention of Sri Lanka’s economic and humanitarian calamity focusing on better trade, commerce and investments between the two countries. The Senator explained the portfolio she has at two committees in the Senate. The Sri Lankan expatriates were aware of the Senator’s role in the two Banking and Financial Committees that could bring some opening for enhanced trade, commerce and investments in both nations.

The Chamber officials, a couple of months ago, met with two senior U.S. Treasury Department officials to discuss possible American investments in the newly emerging Colombo Port City-Economic Zone, and the discussion turned toward streamlining certain Sri Lankan Government regulations to remove some impediments the American investors face in their trade and investment attempts.

The officials of the Sri Lanka-America Association, in the State of Nevada, and the Sri Lanka-America Chamber of Commerce, had been discussing these issues with Washington lawmakers and policymakers one of whom was Senator Catherine Cotez-Masto, that the Sri Lankan expatriates met last week.