S pore becomes SL’s fourth largest Int’l trading partner – Rishad

Sri Lanka-Singapore bilateral trade hits

$ 1.94 b in 2011

As Sri Lanka-Singapore bilateral trade surged to $ 1.94 billion in 2011, the first ever Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Forum will take off in Colombo on 30 May. “The forthcoming business forum between Sri Lanka and Singapore will be a first in our bilateral trade history but more importantly, it is a milestone in our bilateral trade since it shows that our business to business level linkages too have grown considerably, thereby highlighting the importance of our fourth largest international trade partner,” says Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

Minister Bathiudeen announced this last week in light of the forthcoming ‘Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Forum’ to be held on 30 May from 8.30a.m, at the Grand Ballroom, Galadari Hotel, Colombo. The event is organised by the Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to coincide the visit of Foreign Minister of Singapore K. Shanmugam from 26 May to 2 June. Shanmugam will accompany a high-powered delegation from the Singapore Business Federation. “The Forum will be followed by a B2B meeting session based on one-to-one interactions taking place between the Sri Lankan and Singaporean representatives,” said Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council President Shamil Mendis. Mendis led a 14 member Sri Lankan business delegation to Singapore in 2010 June, successfully linking them up with no less than 160 Singapore firms of all three scales. “The fact that Shanmugam being accompanied by a strong business delegation holds promise for our bilateral trade with Singapore which stands now at $ 1.85 billion,” Minister Bathiudeen added. Singapore’s total trade with Sri Lanka in 2011 amounted to $1.94 billion, of which $ 1.53 billion were imports to Sri Lanka. From Singapore’s end, Sri Lanka is the 37th ranked global trading partner. Singapore firms in Sri Lanka are active in property development (Overseas Realty (Ceylon) Ltd), food and beverage processing (Prima Ceylon, Asia Pacific Breweries), logistics (Keppel Logistics), telecommunications (LankaCom, subsidiary of Singapore Telecom), apparel (Ghim Li Group) and conventions and conferences (Pico Global Services). In February this year, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation and promoting business and investment relations between the two countries, paving way for deeper collaboration between businesses of both countries.