Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera today met World Bank Vice President For South Asia Hartwig Schafer who is currently on a visit to Sri Lanka. 

"Discussed Sri Lanka’s strong progress in Doing Business and Human Capital Indicators. Sri Lanka leads the region in the Human Capital Index: but a lot more investment planned for education, health, and social service," Samaraweera tweeted after the meeting. 

Meanwhile, addressing the launch of the Sri Lanka Development Update in Colombo, Schafer said, “Sri Lanka has made good progress in reducing poverty and ranks the highest in South Asia in terms of human capital development." 

Schafer said this was his first visit to Sri Lanka after a hiatus of 10 years and added that the country had achieved "tremendous progress" on many a front since his last visit. 

The World Bank Vice President is expected to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and several other key figures in the government. 

He is also scheduled to meet Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake to discuss ways to promote women participation in the labour force.