19th AGM of Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council

Seated from left: Vice President Upali Bandaranayake, Vice President Rohitha Mendis, President Shamil  Mendis, Vice President Prajeeth Balasubramaniam and Julianne Boulton – Secretariat. Standing from left: Just in Time Holdings Chief Operating Officer Chrishan Mendis, Aitken Spence Cargo Managing Director Rohantha Peiris, ABaur& Company Deputy Managing Director Janaka Gunasekara, Prima Ceylon Executive Director/Group General Manager Tan BengChuan, MAC Holdings Chairman/Managing Director Andre Fernando and Ovearseas Realty (Ceylon) Manager – Marketing Yamuna Jayarathna

The 19th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council (SLSBC) of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was held recently at The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. The SLSBC was inaugurated in 1997 under the aegis of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce with the objective of promoting trade, investments, tourism and services between Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Spear International Ltd. Chairman and Managing Director Shamil Mendis was re-elected as the President of the Council for the year 2016-2017. In his address Mendis mentioned that the year 2015-2016 has been an eventful year and outlined some of the significant activities the council had undertaken during this period. 

The Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council (SLSBC) successfully concluded a business mission to Singapore in August 2015. The mission was organised to coincide with the seminar on Doing Business in Sri Lanka followed by business meetings which was organised by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and supported by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore. The 19-member delegation engaged in an extremely productive visit to Singapore. 

Singaporean non-resident High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Chandra Das met the members of the Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in October 2015. The High Commissioner discussed the possible areas of trade and investment engagements Sri Lanka and Singapore can focus on. 

The year ended with a joint Networking Evening organised by the Sri Lanka – Singapore Business Council (SLSBC) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Singapore (Sri Lanka) Club. The event provided an opportunity for members to interact amongst themselves, with the Singapore expatriate community in Sri Lanka and senior officials of key Government Institutions relevant to business.

In his address Mendis also highlighted some important points regarding the Business environment in Singapore and trade between Sri Lanka and Singapore. He said that Singapore has a highly developed and successful free-market economy. It enjoys a remarkably open and corruption-free environment, stable prices, and a per capita GDP higher than that of most developed countries. The economy depends on exports, particularly in consumer electronics, information technology products, and on a growing financial services sector. 

The Singapore economy grew by 2.0% in 2015 and for 2016, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has forecasted a GDP growth of between 1.0 to 3.0%. In terms trade between Sri Lanka and Singapore from 2014 to 2015 Exports from Sri Lanka to Singapore decreased by 42.07%  and Imports from Singapore to Sri Lanka decreased by 24.27 %. The trade balance has continued to be in favour of Singapore.

The Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council recently organised a highly successful Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Forum, on the occasion of the visit of Minister of Trade and Industry of Singapore S. Iswaran, who was accompanied by a high profile Business Delegation in June this year. This full day event that attracted over 100 participants from within the Sri Lankan business community, concluded with one-to-one business meetings between the Singaporean delegates and the Sri Lankan companies. 

Blue Ocean Ventures Ltd. Managing Director Prajeeth Balasubramaniam, Valdhue and Walker Ltd. Director Upali Bandaranayake and Prudential Shipping Lines Ltd. Managing Director Rohitha Mendis and were elected as Vice Presidents of the Council.

A Baur & Co. Ltd., Aitken Spence Cargo Ltd., Just in Time Holdings Ltd., MAC Holdings Ltd., Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC and Prima Ceylon Ltd. were elected from the membership to serve on the Executive Committee of the Council.

Further details regarding membership of the Council could be obtained from the Secretariat of the Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, No. 50, Navam Mawatha, Colombo 2. E-mail: [email protected] or Tel.: 011-5588875, 5588800.