Ceylon Chamber spreads wings to Iraq’s Kurdistan to bolster trade, investment, tourism opportunities

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, with a view to building a dependable, pragmatic and advantageous relationship and establishing cordial relations between Sri Lanka and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kurdistan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 

This was done with the intention of further enhancing trade, investment and tourism between Sri Lanka and Iraq on 27 January at the Sri Lanka-Kurdistan Business Forum, organised by the Chamber. Ceylon Chamber Chief Executive Officer Dhara Wijayatilake signed the MOU with Kurdish Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Deputy President Seerwan Mohammed Mahmood. Wijayatilake invited those who attended the business forum to make use of the MOU signed between the two chambers to develop business between the two countries and thanked former Ambassador for Sri Lanka in Iraq, Retd. Major General Niranjan Ranasinghe, for inviting the delegation to visit Sri Lanka. 

The scope of the MOU would be to disseminate trade and investment-related information to enhance bilateral trade and business, initiate or promote joint ventures, partnerships and other business linkages, provide technical expertise, arrange business promotion missions between the two countries, formulate proposals to accelerate bilateral relations and convene business forums and business matchmaking sessions.  

Dr. Ahmed Mustefa, Honorary Consul General for Sri Lanka in Erbil, Iraq, led the high-powered 17-member business delegation from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The business leaders visited Sri Lanka to explore business opportunities, mainly to import tea and food products from Sri Lanka to Kurdistan and to explore investment opportunities. Addressing the gathering, Dr. Mustefa stated that they were willing to increase the quantity of tea to be imported to Kurdistan and invited the participants to visit Kurdistan to exchange experiences between the two countries. 

The Kurdistan Region is an emerging market with an abundance of oil and gas resources, and the region develops them through production-sharing contracts with many international companies in the United Kingdom and Germany, among others. Sri Lanka’s exports to Iraq have grown since 2015 from $ 98 million to $ 145 million in 2018. Imports from Iraq have grown marginally over the last couple of years. The main item exported from Sri Lanka is tea, amounting to $ 138 million in 2018, accounting for 95% of total exports to Iraq. The main item imported to Sri Lanka is mineral fuel, amounting to $ 2.1 million and accounting for 74% of total imports from Iraq to Sri Lanka. At present the trade balance rests in favour of Sri Lanka.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has already signed 129 Memoranda of Understanding to build on the strong relationships with overseas trade promotion organisations for the benefit of the business community in Sri Lanka.