Rishad to lead business delegation to Belgium

Monday, 7 November 2011 00:21 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A business delegation led by Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen is scheduled to visit Belgium from 16-17 November.

The delegation will include Director General/Sri Lanka Export Development Board Sujatha Weerakoon and representatives from the private sector.

This is the first time in over a decade that such a high level business delegation visits Belgium.

It is considered as a reciprocal visit to the visit undertaken by the representatives of 40 Belgian companies to Sri Lanka in November 2010 and is also intended to attract potential Belgian entrepreneurs to Sri Lanka’s premier exposition ‘Expo-2012’ to be held in March 2012.

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels in collaboration with Brussels Export, Commerce and Industry (BECI) and Brussels Invest and Exports has arranged a comprehensive programme of B2B meetings for the Sri Lanka private sector representatives, which will be held on 17 November 2011 at BECI in Brussels.

Over 60 Belgian potential buyers, joint venture partners and investors relating to the following sectors have already confirmed their participation at the B2B meeting programme;

Fish and Fish products Food items
Apparel products including fashion garments, work ware and household textiles
Diamond and precious stones
Alternate energy products and projects
IT and IT related products
Rubber products including solid rubber tyres, rubber mats, rubber gloves etc
Coconut products including coir fibre, coco peat
Industrial products
Construction services
Beverages
Tableware
Ceramic and porcelain tiles

Besides the B2B meetings at BECI, the two day programme in Belgium will include interactive meetings at the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce, Antwerp Diamond Centre and a visit to the Trade Mart Centre where Belgian importers and distributors are located.

Belgium has become a logistics centre in Europe catering to 60 per cent of the European Market.

It is therefore vital for Sri Lanka to develop increased business links with Belgian business persons to facilitate reaching major European markets such as France, Germany, UK and the Netherlands.

The programme planned would be of use to interested Sri Lanka exporters in reaching this promising market.

Sri Lankan exporters interested in joining the delegation and/or having their company profiles shared with prospective buyers, are requested to contact officials of the Export Development Board and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels, in order to benefit from this important opportunity. With the launch of ‘Visit Sri Lanka 2011’ promotional campaign, Sri Lanka tourism aims to achieve a target number of 800,000 tourists to the country with the potential to earn between USD 900 mn to USD 1 bn by end of 2011 with the stretched goal of recording 2.5 million tourists to the country by year 2016.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion bureau campaign for ‘Visit Sri Lanka 2011’ will reach over 137 million homes worldwide and will broadcast on the English and few other European languages. ‘WTM makes it an ideal platform for Sri Lanka Tourism to gain a firm stronghold in the Middle East market’ Rumy said.

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