Sri Lanka’s per capita income will rise to $6,000 by 2016, Central Bank governor Ajith Nivaard Cabraal said in Doha yesterday.The visiting official was making a presentation on ‘Sri Lanka’s Emerging Business Opportunities’ at a seminar organised by the Sri Lankan Business Council of Qatar.Cabraal highlighted the growth in the country’s economy since the war on terrorism ended in 2009. The Government of Sri Lanka has embarked on a massive development programme, ‘Mahinda Chintana’, the brain child of President Mahinda Rajapakse.“It involves development of seaports, airports, manpower development, tourism and healthcare, and plans are also under way to ensure that poverty is totally eradicated from the country,” he explained.The seminar was attended by a large number of representatives of Qatari Banks and, members of the Sri Lankan Business Council and Sri Lankan embassy officials including charge d’affaires Sitara Khan, who welcomed the gathering.In his vote of thanks, Sri Lankan Business Council president Lokitha Karavita stated that it was the first time in the last 30 years of business history, that the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had visited Qatar. “At the beginning of the year, HH the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani visited Sri Lanka for the first time with a high ranking delegation, and indicated Qatar’s willingness to invest in Sri Lanka. This has taken the relationship between the two countries to a new frontier.” The programme was conducted by Ranjith Karunaratne. Cabraal, on a four-day official visit to Qatar, is accompanied by a high level delegation that includes the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and chief executive officers of five leading banks of Sri Lanka, namely, Bank of Ceylon, Peoples Bank, Ceylan Bank, Sampath Bank and Commercial Bank.