OPINION – Northern Investment Summit, Jaffna January 2026
By Jekhan Aruliah
When the topic of the Northern economy comes up, Jaffna is often criticized for living on remittances. Small transfers, perhaps a hundred US dollars a month, sent by hard working people overseas to their families in Jaffna and the Northern Province. These gifts are said to be ruining Jaffna youth and the Northern economy. Because, it is said, they spend this unearned money on motorbikes and petrol and other frivolous consumables. Instead of working for a living. An exaggeration, but not without some truth in Jaffna. And some truth nationally too.
It should be noted living on remittances is actually a National habit, not just Jaffna. Worker Remittances have for years been Sri Lanka’s largest foreign exchange earner. The whole country depends on Remittances from hard working people overseas sending small amounts to their families. Has this made Sri Lanka lazy? Lazy as seen by our nation’s sluggish growth in exports compared to regional peers?
So before we throw stones at the poor Northern Province, the lowest contributor to national GDP, we should remember many of the North’s problems are National problems. And many of the solutions for the North apply to the Nation.
Anyway, getting back to the Northern Investment Summit, held in Jaffna on 21st and 22nd January 2026. The Northern Investment Summit (NIS26) was a great success within its limitations and objectives. It lit a fuse running from South to North Sri Lanka. With great effort The Management Club, founded in Colombo 25 years ago, with its more recently formed Northern Chapter organised this event successfully bringing the highest level of government ministers and organisations. The Ministers of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara, of Industries & Entrepreneurship Sunil Handunetti and others. Top people who took the arduous trip and came North in person. Not sending sending their deputies, not over ZOOM, they came in person. A strong signal of commitment in itself.
The Chairmen of the many national organisations came and spoke in person:
BOI (Board of Investment): Chairman envisioned 4 lane highway from Colombo to Jaffna; Freight trains; Development of the Airport & Harbour; Industrial Zones. For the first time I heard the international airport maybe in Killinochchi (Iranamadu) not Palaly due to the availability of land.
EDB (Export Development Board): Chairman commented only US$25million of Sri Lanka’s approximately US$15 billion came from the North. Now there are probably statistical quirks, like where the export is booked if it is produced in the North for a company incorporated in the South. But still this is less than half a percent of exports.
NEDA (National Enterprise Development Authority): Chairman said nationally SMEs produce 52% of GDP, by only 5% of exports.
Cabinet Minister Sunil Handunetti: Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development spoke about the abandoned resources. Agricultural land and property left unused. Our natural assets: Coastline for fisheries and tourism; Renewable Energy, solar and wind.
The Indian Consul General for Jaffna and the North spoke about the success in Tamil Nadu, and how we can follow their lead. Our Indian brothers’ Aspiration, Entrepreneurship, English language. How they embraced Technology as an equalizer with the incumbent economic powerhouses in the US and Europe. Fast tracking that state’s economic development.
Channa Daswatte, one of Sri Lanka’s leading architects, spoke about Tourism in Heritage and Conservation. The North’s assets are not only monuments, but engaging with the people, the landscapes, the stories.
Haminda Jayaweera CEO of Trace City in Colombo, the technology and innovation hub, spoke of his friend in India developing product on his kitchen table the IP (Intellectual Property) he has sold for US$millions. He didn’t need costly laboratory etc.
Cecil Sunder, Microsoft’s Director for Cloud and AI solutions, speaking over ZOOM told that AI is a huge equalizing opportunity “Einstein in your hand”. An opportunity for Jaffna to grab
Harshana Nanayakkara, Minister of Justice and National Integration, was also there in person. For the first time in my memory, a minister speaking with great sincerity about the development of the North.
Victor Antonypillai, the head of IFC (the investment arm of the World Bank) in Sri Lanka, said only 20% of money deposited into the banks in the Northern Province is loaned to businesses in the Northern Province. The banks are highly risk averse, which explains the North’s very low NPLs (non performing loans, i.e. bad debts). He spoke about a company in the Lebanon that makes millions of US$ by assembling electronic components entirely from imported semiconducters etc. In my own words, our nimble fingered ladies are wasting their lives in poverty making handicrafts instead of assembling electronics and building drones.
All these and more top individuals taking the arduous trip to Jaffna from Colombo. They didn’t send their deputies or their secretaries. Almost all came themselves, Ministers and Chairmen and CEOs coming North.
Professor Atputhrajah, Vice Chancellor Vavuniya University, announced the launch of OSSI (One Stop Shop Investment portal). With the objective of connecting investors with opportunities.
The Management Club’s Northern Investment Summit lit a fuse. Now it is the responsibility of the North itself to provide the economic Gunpowder to ignite Northern economic recovery.
( — The writer Jekhan Aruliah was born in Sri Lanka and moved with his family to the UK when he was two years of age. Brought up in London, he graduated from Cambridge University in 1986 with a degree in Natural Sciences. Jekhan then spent over two decades in the IT industry, for half of which he was managing offshore software development for British companies in Colombo and in Gurgaon (India). In 2015 Jekhan decided to move to Jaffna where he is now involved in social and economic projects. He can be contacted at jekhanaruliah@gmail.com — )