Sri Lanka IT/BPM sector promotion in Stockholm, Sweden

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Sweden hosted a familiarisation program for selected Swedish companies in the ICT sector on 1 October, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) and with the participation of its Chairman Jeevan Gnanam.

The event was held as part of the recently initiated Economic Diplomacy Program of the Foreign Ministry and was the first in a series of events to be initially carried out by 10 Sri Lanka Missions abroad in 2018, which will seek to bring tangible benefits to Sri Lanka in emerging markets through economic promotional activities. 

The key objectives of the networking event were to showcase Sri Lanka’s knowledge services industry under the brand “Island of Ingenuity” as well as to present opportunities available for Swedish businesses and software companies to collaborate on iterative product development and R&D. The event commenced with introductory remarks by the Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Sri Lanka Harsha Vithanaarachchi along with the message issued by Ambassador Designate to Sweden Sudantha Ganegama Arachchi in which he highlighted the importance of the event in bridging a longstanding information gap that exists between the industries of the two countries. He said that the untapped opportunities in Sri Lanka and human capital shortage in Sweden can come together for productive collaborations. 

This was followed by the keynote presentation by Gnanam where he elaborated the development of the knowledge services industry in Sri Lanka and the world-class talent and collaboration opportunities in Sri Lanka for Swedish software development companies, corporates and SMEs. He also focused on Sri Lanka’s startup ecosystem and the potential to use Sri Lanka as a digital gateway to South Asia. He encouraged Swedish software development companies, corporates and SMEs to collaborate with Sri Lankan companies for mutual benefit. Sweden Sri Lanka Business Council Secretary General Leif Ohlson presented his business experience in Sri Lanka and elaborated opportunities open in Sri Lanka to address some of the challenges faced by the Swedish technology industry. 

Two Swedish companies also presented the audience with Swedish perspective of doing ICT business with Sri Lanka. 

The event was attended by approximately 22 Swedish IT sector representatives and the cocktail reception following the event provided one to one interaction between the representatives to share their views and build contacts.