Ceylon Chamber invites Slovak to target Indo-China markets via Sri Lanka

Thursday, 4 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce invited Slovakia, a eurozone country, to utilise Sri Lanka’s maritime advantage and trade relationship with India and China to access the markets of those two countries.

“Our connectivity to China and India is very good, so does our trade relationship. We already have an FTA with India and a one with China is in the offing which will give Slovakian investors an opportunity,” said Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Secretary General/CEO Mangala P.B. Yapa. Yapa made this statement when the State Secretary of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Peter Burian, visited the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce last week. In response to Yapa’s invitation, Burian said: “Slovakia is one of the fastest growing economies in the eurozone. We are the number one producer in cars, we are also trying to develop and diversify our economy into areas such as IT / ICT.”

He said that his country is interested in working with SMEs, sharing its knowledge and expertise in industrial production. According to Burian, Slovakia is very keen on expanding exports into the existing markets and also finding new ones, to help push their production to the global market. Yapa also pointed out that Slovakia can use Sri Lanka’s Free Port Access to set up a fully-fledged production facilities or value adding facilities to help export to regional markets. Ambassador of the Slovakian Republic to Sri Lanka and India, Zigmund Bertok, Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic in Colombo, Mahen Kariyawasan and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Assistant Secretary General Kamani Bartholomeusz were among the participants at the meeting. Slovakia is a Central European country and is a member of the European Union.