Bangladesh biz delegation to attend B2B meetings and forum prior to CBF

Wednesday, 6 November 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Sarah Hannan The Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Business Cooperation Council (SLBBCC) and the Bangladesh High Commission, Sri Lanka in collaboration with the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) will host a business forum and B2B meetings on Monday 11 November at the NCCSL auditorium.

A press briefing was held on 4 November at the Bangladesh High Commission by the Bangladesh High Commissioner Mohammad S. Rahman and National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka Deputy President Sujeewa Samaraweera. According to the officials a 40-member business delegation from Bangladesh will attend these B2B meeting and will also attend the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) that is scheduled for 12-14 November to be held in Colombo. The High Commissioner elaborating on the importance of the forum and the meetings said: “It is the right time for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to go in to deeper discussions and to strengthen business relations. We need to focus more on freight and shipping divisions as these links has been weakened since the last three decades. Both the countries should work on creating wider connectivity between friendly ports and make it easily accessible”. Rahman further stated that import and export sources between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh needs to be diversified and though the countries are competing at international levels there are complimenting aspects in the business tie ups as well. “This will be a golden opportunity for the businessmen of Bangladesh to exchange their views and network with their counterparts from Sri Lanka. We seek participation from Sri Lankan businessmen, investors and relevant sector-specific associations availing its linkages with the NCCSL. “The business forum will be attended by officials from the Department of Commerce, Board of Investment, Export Development Board etc and we expect an audience of about 200 participants,” stated Samaraweera. The business forum and B2B meetings will wrap up with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a representative from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be elected to follow up on the implementations.