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The regulatory landscape of Sri Lankan industries appears to accommodate new changes in par with macro-economic fundamentals. “Many of our industries are in need of being modernised and upgraded. Therefore I believe that it is also time that we consider making relevant changes to the Industrial Promotion Act No 46 of 1990 so that the competitive advantage of our industries are sustained, both here and abroad” announced Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 14 June.
Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the launch event of the 8th SME INOEX 2013 machinery, technology, material and service exhibition to be held in October in Colombo. The INOEX is a leading annual event in Sri Lanka’s industry and SME calendar. The event is organised by SMED-SME development arm of Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) to support the SME sector by providing essential exposure to SMEs, which is the backbone of the economy. In supporting this FCCISL’s annual initiative, Minister Bathiudeen’s Ministry has so far extended more than $ 109,000 in financial assistance during the past seven years alone.
The 11 to 13 October event, scheduled to be held at Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, will host exhibitors from India with more than 100 local exhibitor stalls. 40 foreign participants have also confirmed their attendance. Several Chinese and Malaysian firms too have expressed their willingness to take part.
“My Ministry is facilitating the FCCISL to implement this project to create an enabling environment for trade and commerce, so that the commercial-hub concept, under the committed vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is realised well,” said Minister Bathiudeen while addressing the event.
“The National Enterprise Development Authority, under our Ministry implements many programs for SME and Micro sectors, the leading project being the series of SMILE funding in which our SMEs are given financial and other capacity assistance. In fact my Ministry’s role extends beyond SMEs. According to the Industrial Production Index of 2012, textile, paper products, chemical products and fabricated metal, reported growth rates, over of 10%. Our overall industry sector itself was able to show an impressive growth rate of 10.3% in 2012. I am pleased to state, that within this, processing industries, grew by 6.5%, factory industries, grew by 5.2% and cottage industries grew by 4.6%, in the same year. We believe that our industries can perform better and the behaviour of the industry sector needs to be more strategic, so that it becomes a viable input towards the $ 20 billion exports by year 2020,” Bathiudeen said.
The minister added: “Many of our industries are in need of being modernised and upgraded. Therefore I believe that it is also time that we consider making relevant changes to the Industrial Promotion Act No 46 of 1990 so that the competitive advantages of our industries are sustained, both here and abroad. Therefore, I would like to invite all private and public sector machinery and material manufacturers, technology-based researchers, new machinery and technology importers, financial service providers to join hands with SME INO-EX 2013, and avail yourselves of the new opportunities.”
“We thank the government, specially the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for their continuous support to build our SMEs” FCCISL Secretary General Nalin Attygalle stated while addressing the event. “This event sets standards to benchmark our SME sector and gives an opportunity for them to network, to learn and develop B2B capacities. We believe that SMEs should get an opportunity to practice Kaizan and value addition methods through such events” Attygalle added.
Minister Bathiudeen also launched the SME INOEX 2013 website at the 14 June event.
