Business Forum to coincide with the visit of Vietnam President to Sri Lanka

A large and high powered business delegation from Vietnam will be visiting Sri Lanka in October 2011 to coincide with the visit of Truong Tan Sang the President of Vietnam to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka – Vietnam Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in association with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of Vietnam in Colombo and will be organising a “Sri Lanka – Vietnam Business Forum” followed by a “Business Matchmaking Session” on 14 October, 2011 in Colombo. It is expected that the President of Vietnam will be addressing the “Business Forum” and a number of Senior Ministers from both countries would be representing the Governments of Sri Lanka and Vietnam at the Forum.

The Sri Lanka – Vietnam Business Council was established under the aegis of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce as its 21st Business Council with a view to promoting trade, investment, services and tourism between Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has already signed three Memoranda of Understanding with leading Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam. The visit of the business delegation will be co-ordinated by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the counterpart Chamber of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

“We welcome the visit of the high powered delegation since it is a great advantage for members of our council to establish strong business linkages and we anticipate positive results soon after the visit.  We trust that there are lot of synergies between our two countries and this is the right time for us to match business partners of both countries at one location” said the President of the Sri Lanka – Vietnam Business Council, Anton Godfrey. It was further stated that at the launch of the Business Council in 2010, the priority of the Council was to request the Deputy Minister of Vietnam who inaugurated the Council as the chief guest, to consider re-establishment of the Embassy of Vietnam in Colombo. Establishment of the Embassy in Colombo has provided tremendous opportunities for the business community in Sri Lanka to obtain visa to Vietnam smoothly thus saving their valuable time when they travel to Vietnam for business.

According to the Embassy of Vietnam in Colombo, the Vietnamese businessmen are interested in setting up joint ventures in deep sea fishing, agriculture, processing of fish especially inland fishing, construction of hotels, apartments/housing projects, establishment of a Vietnamese Restaurant in Colombo, manufacturing of agriculture equipment, telecommunication services, etc.

They are also interested in tourism projects such as eco-tourism, spiritual tourism, inbound and outbound travel, airline services, banking, and shipping services. The delegates also wish to expand trade activities for products such as cement, fertiliser, canned fish, construction material, high breed rice, plastic products and electronics.

At present, Vietnam being an ASEAN country has entered into a number of bilateral trade agreements where Sri Lanka too could receive opportunities to penetrate the ASEAN market with the establishment of joint ventures with Vietnam business partners.

During the visit of the President of Vietnam, several bilateral agreements will be signed between the Governments of Sri Lanka and Vietnam.  The Embassy of Vietnam which was established in Colombo in April will be ceremonially opened during the visit of the President of Vietnam on 15 October 2011. Further details regarding the Business Forum and Business Matchmaking Event could be obtained from the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce: E-mail – [email protected] or Tel. 2329143 or 2421745-7.