Expanding Cooperation with Sri Lankan Enterprises

 

Speaking at the meeting, General Secretary Pham Thi Thu Hang reaffirmed that trade relations between Vietnam and Sri Lanka were growing. Two-way trade between the two countries over recent years had seen great changes and increased steadily. Ms Hang also stressed that the cooperation potential between the two sides remained tremendous, especially in the fields such as textiles and seafood, therefore needed to be strengthened in the near future.

 

According to Minister Rishad Badiutheen, Sri Lanka attached great importance to promoting economic and investment cooperation, with Vietnam, especially in the fields of high technology, information technology, rubber, textiles and footwear. The Government of Sri Lanka encouraged and created the most favourable conditions for foreign investors who came to do business in the country. Coming to Vietnam this time, the delegation’s purpose was to do market research from which to expand cooperation with Vietnamese businesses.

 

Statistics show that in 2013, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Sri Lanka reached US$ 166.6 million, up 27 percent compared to 2012 and an increase of more than 3 times the value of 2008. In the first 6 months of 2014 alone, Vietnam's exports to Sri Lanka reached US$ 66 million, up 11.8 percent compared to the same period in 2013, while imports reached US$ 43 million, an increase of 139 percent. The main export products of Vietnam to Sri Lanka include: machinery and equipment parts, all kinds of yarn, fabric, plastic materials, chemicals, tea and rubber products. On the other hand, import items from Sri-Lanka mainly consist of: animal feed, rubber, cloth, cotton of various types, chemicals and textiles.

 

On investment, by July 20th, Sri Lanka had 10 investment projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of US$ 14.2 million, ranking 65th out of 101 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. This was one of the good results after the signing between the Foreign Investment Agency of Vietnam (FIA) and Sri-Lanka Bureau of Investment (BOI) of the Minutes of cooperation, which identified Vietnamese areas encouraging investment from Sri-Lanka as textiles, rubber, electrical and electronic, agricultural products and food processing, gems and jewellery; in the other direction, the Sri Lankan areas which welcomed Vietnamese investment included telecommunications, manufacturing agricultural machines, aquaculture and seafood processing, oil and gas exploration and production, plastic production, materials construction production such as cement, ceramic tiles and sanitary ware in 2011.

 

Representatives of the Export Development Board, Mr Bandula Egodage, confirmed that expanding business cooperation between the two sides would bring many advantages. Sri Lanka would be the gateway for Vietnamese goods into South Asia, Africa and connecting with Europe. In return, Vietnam would be a bridge to help Sri Lankan goods penetrate the ASEAN market. Therefore, the opportunity to develop trade cooperation between the two countries was very great. Representatives of the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka also stressed the need to further promote the existing relationship between the two countries. The Sri-Lanka delegation visiting Vietnam this time hoped VCCI would help and create the most favourable conditions for them to study and learn more about the Vietnam market. Mr Bandula Egodage also proposed to establish a Vietnam - Sri Lanka Business Council in Vietnam. Shortly after this visit, the delegation would start to honour its commitment in bilateral economic and social development.

 

On cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce of the two countries, Ms Pham Thi Thu Hang said that VCCI had had a lot of activities to promote and connect trade between Vietnam and other countries. In the upcoming time, there would be also many research activities to help strengthen trade connection between Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Some specific examples were the cooperation agreement between the VCCI and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka (CCC) in 2002 to further promote economic cooperation between the two countries’ trade, in particular, VCCI and CCC would enhance the exchange of trade delegations and the cooperation agreement between the VCCI and the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) in November 2011.

 

VCCI General Secretary proposed that the two sides should strengthen cooperation and exchange of information, organizing more seminars to help businesses explore opportunities for cooperation and investment.

 

Minister Rishad Badiutheen confirmed that Sri Lanka was focusing on developing infrastructure, roads, aviation and maritime system, Sri Lanka would also create a favourable environment to promote trade and industrial cooperation between the two governments in general, and in particular among enterprises.