Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry sign MoU
Daily FT: The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 13 November in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to strengthen bilateral trade, investment, and business cooperation between Sri Lanka and Gujarat.
The MoU was signed by The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairperson Krishan Balendra and GCCI President Sandeep P. Engineer.
The signing took place during the visit of Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Mahishini Colonne, marking her first official State-level engagement since assuming office.
The initiative and arrangements leading to the signing were facilitated by Sri Lanka’s Honorary Consul in Gujarat Rakesh Shah, whose efforts played a key role in bringing the two Chambers together.
Under the MoU, The Ceylon Chamber and the GCCI will collaborate to promote business opportunities, facilitate joint ventures and partnerships, organise business-to-business (B2B) engagements, and enhance knowledge sharing between the private sectors of both economies. It is hoped that the partnership would also serve to deepen maritime and logistics cooperation and build on the complementarities between Gujarat’s major ports and Sri Lanka’s role as a regional transshipment hub.
Both Chambers expressed confidence that the MoU will open new avenues for trade, investment, and sustainable economic cooperation.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka and India enjoy strong bilateral, trade and investment ties through the years that have been further strengthened through an operational free trade agreement (FTA). The two countries are also engaged in a discussion to further strengthen these trade ties. India is also a key development partner of Sri Lanka and there are many Indian businesses that have expanded operation to Sri Lanka as well. The growth and profits recorded by these Indian businesses indicate the increasing business potential in Sri Lanka. Given Sri Lanka’s ongoing path to achieving regional hub status, strong trade ties with many foreign countries and close proximity to India, Sri Lanka’s expanding business/investment opportunities present lucrative business ventures for Indian businesses/investors. With all these factors at play, Indian businesses could confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka as well as look at expanding operations to Sri Lanka through joint ventures or partnerships with local businesses. Since India has many states that are economically advanced and on an expansion path, there are many opportunities for joint collaborations covering all key economic sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20251118/Z_3 |