Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council meets Malaysia-Sri Lanka Business Chamber delegation

The Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce had a business meeting with members of the Malaysia-Sri Lanka Business Chamber on 18 December at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. 

The delegation was accompanying Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak during his visit to Sri Lanka from 17-19 December. 

The Malaysian team was very positive about the potential for trade relations between Sri Lanka and Malaysia and noted that the two councils should strive to increase activities with a proactive approach and mentioned that they were keen to expand business interests in Sri Lanka and that they have been promoting Sri Lanka as an investment destination among Malaysian investors. 

A discussion took place on the topic of empowering youth in Sri Lanka and the Malaysian delegates mentioned that Malaysian organisations were happy to help Sri Lanka through vocational training and empowering youth, which will address the current shortage of skilled labour in the country.

The Malaysian team shared its high focus directed towards SMEs in Malaysia and mentioned that SME companies in Malaysia are willing to invest in Sri Lanka, following the success stories in China in the same avenues. 

The team mentioned that they were confident that the same scenario could be replicated in Sri Lanka to achieve synergies through joint collaboration between Sri Lanka and Malaysian businesses. They also spoke about an integrated building scheme to provide assistance to build houses and also mentioned plans to organise a conference with a focus on one-to-one meetings with the Sri Lankan business community.

Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council (SLMBC) President Iqram Cuttilan, who is a Director of Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd, stated that SLMBC will support and collaborate in making these initiatives successful and mentioned that as per the invitation of the Malaysia-Sri Lanka Business Chamber, SLMBC will organise a trade delegation to Malaysia and will plan for the visit to coincide with the international conference scheduled for the same period. 

Ambassador Dato Kumaseri, Dato’Kulasegaran (President), Dato’ VJ Balan, Mr. Kanesan, Mr. Magandran members from the Malaysia-Sri Lanka Business Chamber and Cuttilan (President), Amrit Canagaretna (Vice President), Dr. Rohitha Silva (Past President), Nilrukshi de Silva (Past President), Khalid M. Farouk and Mizha Mizver and members of the Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce attended the meeting.