Sri Lanka-Indonesia Business Council holds 20th AGM

Friday, 2 August 2013 03:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Sri Lanka-Indonesia Business Council (SLIBC) which functions under the aegis of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce held its 20th Annual General Meeting recently at Taj Samudra Hotel. SLIBC was established in 1991 with a view to promote trade, investment,

tourism and services between the two countries. Harimawan Suyitno, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and Patron of the SLIBC, was the Chief Guest at this occasion. Addressing the members, the Ambassador stated that the both countries have demonstrated their strong commitment to develop cooperation in multifaceted areas and one of its commitments is a target to reach US$ 1 billion total value of bilateral trade in 2015 for which the SLIBC could be a driving force to follow up and to encourage business interactions between the two countries. He underlined that the initiative or commitment made by the Government would bring about real benefits once it is followed up or implemented by business communities. Therefore, the governments and business sectors have to work together as partners in picking up and executing opportunities to be profits. Jatinder Biala, Director/General Manager of ISIN Lanka Ltd. was re-elected as the President of SLIBC for 2013-2014. In his address, Biala mentioned that Indonesia is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and the trade relationship between Sri Lanka and Indonesia has a very long history. It was stated that recently one of the largest textile industry groups in Sri Lanka commenced its commercial operations in Indonesia and several blue chip companies have expressed their interest in venturing out to Indonesia. Biala also mentioned that by collaborative efforts we can further shorten the negative balance of trade and also achieve the above target of bilateral trade. Biala concluded by stating that the SLIBC will be aggressively engaged in exploiting business opportunities and will continue to provide assistance to set-up new business ventures as well. The two Vice Presidents are S.B.M. Padmasiri, Managing Director of AB Mauri Lanka Ltd. and Jayantha Rathnayake, Managing Director – Commercial Cluster, Ceyline Holdings Ltd. Civaro Lanka Ltd., Douglas & Sons Ltd., Daya Constructions Ltd., Geocyc Ltd., Serendib Flour Mills Ltd., Avalon Enterprises Ltd. were elected to the SLIBC Committee 2013-2014. Past Presidents include Anton Godfrey, T. Someswaran, Patrick Rodrigo, Hussain S. Hashim, Nihal Gooneratne and Senaka Amarasinghe.