FCCISL hosts interactive session with Dr. Palitha Kohona

Dr. Palitha Kohona

Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) hosted an interactive session with Ambassador Designate to China Dr. Palitha Kohona in Colombo recently. The event was organised by FCCISL Board Member Ruwan de Silva.

FCCISL Senior Vice President Keerthi Gunawardane welcomed Dr. Palitha Kohona and conducted this event.

Dr. Kohona making the keynote address outlined Sri Lanka’s strategic importance in the Asian region and also from a global trade perspective because of her geographical location in the Indian Ocean.

He said that Sri Lankan exports to China are very low (450) as against imported (2,500) and this underlines the tremendous export potential to China. China has become the world’s largest economy passing the United States during the COVID-19 era. Chinese economy is not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and hence purchasing powers of their citizens are very high.

“Every crisis creates new opportunities and even the COVID-19 will create such opportunities and local exporters should find ways to take benefit from this.”

He invited all the patricians to interact with him and said his trade and diplomatic knowledge can be used to improve the business with Sri Lanka for our benefit.  

“Chinese buyers will look for very high-end products with high-end packaging.”

In addition, there is tremendous opportunity for tourism and to cater to this segment proficiency in Chinese language would be an advantage.

Dr. Kohona when asked about his views on the proposed FTA with China said; “The Free Trade Agreement with China, has been on the table for the last few years since 2017. It’s about time that this should be revisited and make every effort to finalise it over the next couple of years.”

“A Free Trade Agreement is not an easy thing. There are many people who say Free Trade Agreements are not good. But I take a different view. The most important thing about the Free Trade Agreement is that it should serve the interests of both parties. Some of the current Free Trade Agreements are not in favour of Sri Lanka.”

“Take the agreement with India, which concluded in 1999. India exports something like $ 4.5 billion worth of goods to Sri Lanka while the exports are around $ 600 annually. So, there is some imbalance somewhere.”

“Either it was in the way we negotiated this agreement or in the way it has been implemented. Something has to be done to rectify the errors that we made or the things that we did not take into account.”

Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association Former President Amil Samo requested Dr. Kohona to promote the industry in China. “We are very excited that you (Dr. Kohona) are taking the lead in Beijing to help and support the marketing of the industry.”

FCCISL Former President and Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) President Ruwan Edirishighe said that the China-Lanka FTA should be perused since there were two high powered teams that had come from China during the last Government and met the present Government and also the President to discuss this but nothing came out of it.

Ceylon Institute of Builders President Dr. Rohan Karunarathne recalled that two high-powered Chinese delegations visited Sri Lanka and met both the former President and senior politicians of the previous Government with a proposal to implement the Belt and Road Initiative involving Sri Lanka. The Chinese were to invest around $ 500 million for the initial stage of this program and requested Dr. Kohona to follow this.

Answering a question as to why it was difficult to export more products to China, Dr. Kohona said that Lankan exporters need to become much savvier and much more sophisticated in selling in the Chinese market. “Nobody can come and sell anything unless you have a local partner. You need to cultivate relationships, you need to have language skills and you need to be able to do the hard slog to get there,” he advised.

Federation of Information Technology in Sri Lanka Vice Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe requested Dr. Kohona to explore opportunities for Sri Lankan talent in the ICT industry to gain experience and employment. “It would be good if China Sri Lanka ICT sector webinars could be hosted in China.”

Dr. Kohona also said that the Sri Lankan Tourism sector has failed to woo travellers from the largest tourism destination in the world, China to Sri Lanka.

He said that on average over 169 million Chinese tourists travel out (prior to COVID-19 pandemic) from China each year and Sri Lanka has only succeeded in getting on average 265,000 arrivals from China while Thailand gets around 26 million Chinese arrivals.

He said that the local travel sector must look at providing a better ‘Chinese oriented service’ for Chinese tourists in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Kohona said that Sri Lanka is making some progress in the Chinese market but still has areas to cover which he hopes to pursue.

During the interactive session, a suggestion was also made from the audience for Dr. Kohona to explore the possibility of relocating some of the foreign multinational corporate offices from China to Sri Lanka. “During the COVID-19 situation, 21 manufacturing companies migrated to Indonesia from China.”

Dr. Kohona said that to explore this possibility a clear long-term legal policy framework and economic environment for businesses has to be set up in Sri Lanka and the Government must be given some time frame for it. “The Government promised to do those things in the ‘Saubagya Dekma’ program for prosperity.”

Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka President Indika Sampath, Sri Lanka Trade Development Council President Roshana Waduge, Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) President CEO Sanath Senanayake, Federation of Information Technology in Sri Lanka Vice Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe, Food Processors Association Chairman Thusith Wijesinghe, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries President Ruwan Edirisinghe, Federation of Chamber of Commerce Director Dr. Rohitha Silva, Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industries Senior Vice President Keerthi Gunawardene, Young Constructors Forum Director Mega Kularatne, Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) President Roshan Fernando, Sri Lanka USA Business Council Vice President Sanji De Silva, Enterprise Development Advisory Council Advisor K.D. Indika Ebert, Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies Vice President Hemantha Sapumohotti, Colombo Silk Road Professionals and Industrialists Forum General Secretary Nishan K. Silva, and Sri Lanka Myanmar Business Council President Wanshapriya Kulaseela participated at the event.