Department of Commerce

Details: Category: Latest News

13-1

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Viet Nam, in close coordination and collaboration with the Industrial Development Board (IDB), organized a “Sri Lankan Fair” to promote, project and profile the products of SME entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka to the vast middle-income market consisting of a total of 100 million population of Viet Nam. The two-day Sri Lankan Fair was attended by a large number of Vietnamese nationals, foreign nationals based in Ha Noi, senior government and corporate personalities, media and of course the diplomatic corps consisting of a number of Ambassadors based in Ha Noi, amongst others. The Sri Lankan Fair was held at the Chancery of the Embassy of Sri Lanka. It consisted nearly 10 SME companies ranging from wooden and ornamental products, tradition Sri Lankan masks and paintings, batik and handmade garments, decorative household items, hand-made silver jewelry and gemstones, soft toys, exclusive wooden carvings, herbal tea and spices and brassware, amongst others. The two-day event was enriched by serving and selling authentic and traditional Sri Lankan food, which were prepared at the premises itself as well as serving traditional hallmark Sri Lanakan tea by the Dilma based in Ha Noi.

At the auspicious opening ceremony of the Sri Lankan Fair, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Ha Noi, Prof A. Saj U. Mendis, in his opening remarks stated that the SMEs are often described and considered as a backbone of any given economy, be it developed, developing or least developed. He further added that these sentiments were true in the context of Sri Lanka as well. Prof Mendis stated that in both developed and developing nations, SME sector contributes approximately 50% of the GDP and employs over 60% of the working population. He added that the primary economic pivot of any given nation was to intensely focus on fostering, nurturing and facilitating the SMEs, thus enabling them to advance to become mid-sized companies to large companies to national corporates to regional players to multinational corporates respectively.

This should be the fundamental vision of any SMEs as well as of any nation vis-à-vis SMEs. Ambassador Mendis added, in his opening remarks, that today some of the largest corporates of the world such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google had most humbling beginnings often in college dorms and garages. The Director of Department of Industry and Trade also addressed the opening ceremony and stated that the Department in Viet Nam would support, cooperate and assist the SME entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka as well as expressed optimistic and encouraging sentiments. Minister Commercial of the Embassy, Ms. Kishani Wickramasinghe, played a pivotal and instrumental role in organizing the entire Sri Lankan Fair with great success and efficacy.

Over 15 Sri Lankan SME entrepreneurs who visited Ha Noi was arranged to visit and interact with Bat Trang ceramic pottery village, wood craft village and Viet Nam Association of Gemstones in order to forge long-term business and commercial relations, thus enabling to export the Sri Lankan products to Viet Nam. Further, the Embassy organized a number of B2B meetings for the Sri Lankan entrepreneurs/SMEs to promote their respective commercial entities.

Viet Nam is unique in the context of fostering and evolving the SME sector, given the seminal nature and significant of it for economic and commercial advancement of the country, and has 17 FTAs and partnership agreements with over 70 select countries, thus accommodating the SMEs of Viet Nam to export their products with ease at competitive prices. Needless to state that most of the Vietnamese nationals and others were highly impressed and were captivated of the authentic and artistic products of Sri Lanka, mainly gems and jewelry, handicraft, exclusive batik products and wood carvings, amongst others. Most of the SME entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka initiated and reached upon commercial arrangements with Vietnamese counterpart companies. This particular commercial initiative did enhance and aggrandize the profile and image of the country amongst the Vietnamese and other foreign nationals in Ha Noi.

Details: Category: Latest News

MOT 6243

Dr.Lakmini Mendis assumes duties as the Director General of Commerce

Details: Category: Latest News

The recent play 'Ken B Eniwan's Story' presented by Sri Lanka's Stages Theatre Group has won the hearts of the audience in Karachi.

The play's focus on depicting human life at various stages appears to have resonated well with the viewers, leading to overwhelming responses during the two performances on the 21st and 22nd of September 2023.

The Sri Lanka Consulate General in Karachi with the assistance of Sri Lankan Airlines facilitated the performance 'Ken B Eniwan's Story’ at the Pakistan International Theatre Festival in Karachi organized by the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi.

The Consul General of Sri Lanka Jagath Abeywarna, President Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi Mohammad Ahmed Shah, Stages Theatre Group Director Ruwanthie De Chickera, Consul Generals, Sri Lankan Airlines Country Manager Saman Rathnayake, President and representatives from the English Speaking Union in Pakistan, were among the audience at the performance.

This performance was organized as a part of the activities to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, showcasing the cultural ties between the two countries.

The success of 'Ken B Eniwan's Story' not only marks a positive step for Sri Lanka's theater scene but also strengthens cultural ties and fosters goodwill between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Sri Lanka Consulate General in Karachi

18/10/2023

Details: Category: Latest News

Advertisement-1 page-0001

Details: Category: Latest News

The 05^th round of the Sub-Committee Meeting between Sri Lanka and Thailand was successfully concluded on 12^th October 2023 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The engagement under the Sub Committee on Trade Related matters provided an excellent opportunity for both sides to exchange views on strengthening trade, investment and economic cooperation and to review the Joint Action Plan which covers mutually agreed 10 sectors namely, investment, infrastructure, Agro industry, fisheries, gems & jewellery, tourism, SME, financial cooperation, packaging industry and ICT.

The meeting was Co-Chaired by Dr. Lakmini Mendis, Actg. Director General of Commerce from the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Trade Commerce and Food Security of Sri Lanka and Mrs. Auramon Supthaweethum, Director General and the Chief Negotiator of the Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Trade of Thailand.

This dialogue covered market access opportunities, issues and discussions on facilitating businesses. At the Sub-Committee level the two sides agreed to organize a trade delegation in November, facilitate trade fair participation, and hold an investment seminar in Thailand to disseminate FDI opportunities in infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, fisheries, and tourism sectors among others. Delegates engaged in exploring potential export areas such as promotion of Ceylon Tea, gem and jewellery, fisheries, SME value added products, crafts and handlooms, etc. Both sides acknowledged the scope for assessing new proposals on sharing knowledge and know-how in agriculture, fisheries, packaging, jewellery designing, developing laboratories, and empowering SMEs specifically for technical cooperation and study visits. Programmes for collaboration in areas such as Buddhist & cultural Tourism, digital technology and Cyber security were discussed with the expectation of deepening strong bilateral ties.

The Sri Lankan delegation included officials from the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industries, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Plantation Industries, Ministry of Fisheries, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Department of Trade & Investment Policies (DTIP), Department of External Resources, Department of Agriculture, Department of Fisheries, Road Development Authority
(RDA), Urban Development Authority (UDA), National Gem & Jewelry Authority (NGJA), Board of Investment (BOI), Export Development Board (EDB), Sri Lanka Tea Board, National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS), Coconut Research Institute (CRI), Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Management (SLITHM), Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), National Institute of Post-Harvest Management (NIPHM), Gem & Jewellery Research and Training Institute, Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging, Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), National Craft Council, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Associations representing fruit and vegetable exporters and spices & allied products.