Ceylon Chamber, AB Partner AS sign MoU to continue ‘Business Matchmaking’

Monday, 6 April 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Chairman of the Advance Business Partner AS Tom Albrigtsen and CEO/Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Mangala Yapa exchanging the agreement while Norway’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Grete Løchen and Deputy Secretary General, CCC Alikie Perera looks on The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Advance Business Partner AS of Norway, who were partners of the successful Sri Lanka-Norway Business Matchmaking program (BMMP) along with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation signed a MoU to continue the program with a new arrangement. Under this program, in the future, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Advance Business Partner AS of Norway will be the only partners who will continue with the Business Matchmaking Program. Accordingly, CEO/Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Mangala P.B. Yapa and Chairman of Advance Business Partner AS Norway Tom Albrigtsen exchanged the agreement. The objective of the new arrangement is to support trade and investment between Sri Lanka and Norway, where facilitation will take place to build up business links with firms in both countries. The earlier program, which commenced in 1994, continued under five phases and saw nearly 175 Norwegian firms engaging in business activities in Sri Lanka such as the forming joint ventures, technical partnerships, export partnerships and many more. According to the Project Director of BMMP, Inge Reithaug, the program has also created 7,000 job opportunities, both direct and indirect. Exports from Sri Lanka to Norway have increased fivefold since 1994 to account for an annual income of $ 19 million for 2014. The projects facilitation was conducted by Kevin Wijeratne and Yasura Samarakoon, respectively, the Managers of Business and Trade Promotion of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.