Ceylon Chamber pitches Colombo logistics hub status to Mumbai biz

Monday, 2 February 2015 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Colombo has the potential to emerge as the topmost shipping and logistics hub in South Asia, said Ceylon Chamber of Commerce CEO/Secretary General Mangala P.B. Yapa while speaking to a Mumbai based business delegation. Yapa says, the geographical location of Sri Lanka, adjacent to the intersection of many sea routes, connecting major economies, sea and air connectivity,

heavy investment and development of the local ports and airports, ICT integration and streamlining of all import and export related activities to a seamless, fully integrated and synchronised system, the emergence of free ports concepts, and the Free Trade Agreements that the country has already established and that are to be established in the future, as the key determinants behind this potential of Sri Lanka’s emergence, as a shipping and logistics hub. He invited the Indian businessmen to take advantage of this situation, which the former shipbuilder said would help expanding trade within and outside the region, owing to Sri Lanka’s growing ties with India, Pakistan and China. “You would have noted that the deepest port in South Asia is already operation in Colombo South Port. Sri Lanka also has good air connectivity. This is an excellent opportunity for Indian importers and exporters,” he told the business delegation, who are the members of the Mumbai based Indian Merchant Chamber of Commerce. Speaking further Yapa outlined that Sri Lanka’s uninterrupted power supply system, less bureaucracy, educated labour force, investment incentives, ease of repatriation of income generated from investments and offering of visa on arrival are some of the reasons, why investing in the country makes it easy for investors. The Chamber delegation was in the country a week ago to ‘enhance bi-lateral trade and explore new avenues of business opportunities in Sri Lanka’. At a B2B meeting organised by The Ceylon Chamber in association with the Indo-Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, they met with local counterparts and explored possibilities in expanding trade and investment in the respective areas.