Sri Lanka and New Zealand discuss boosting bilateral trade
Daily FT: Trade Minister Nalin Fernando met with New Zealand High Commissioner David Pine recently at the Trade Ministry premises.
The trade minister said that Sri Lanka is making all efforts to diversify its exports by encouraging the SME sector. He further emphasised the need to increase Sri Lankan exports to the New Zealand market to address the wide trade gap between the two countries.
The High Commissioner said that as a country rich with cultural heritage and great history Sri Lanka has enormous opportunities in the tourism sector. In this regard, the High Commissioner actively engaged in creating connections between the relevant stakeholders in the two countries he further added.
During the meeting, the High Commissioner stated that Sri Lanka and New Zealand need further partnership not only in the tourism sector but also in the areas of Trade, Sports, Dairy Industry, Education, and Cultural sectors. The High Commissioner also said that among migrants to New Zealand from around the world, it is significant that all Sri Lankans are highly skilled people. Considering the ways to enhance Sri Lanka-New Zealand trade relations, the High Commissioner emphasised the need to develop identified Sri Lankan products to target sophisticated international markets, including small populations like New Zealand. Both sides discussed working towards further strengthening the existing relations.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka is currently engaged in an aggressive campaign to expand its trade ties with other countries with the aim of further boosting the country’s exports industry. Local authorities are engaged in conducting promotional campaigns in foreign destinations to promote Sri Lanka as an emerging business destination as well as capture more markets for Sri Lanka’s expanding exports sector. The growth in ties between Sri Lanka and other foreign countries also attracts foreign businesses/investors to explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. The ongoing economic activities in Sri Lanka and the overall expansion of the country’s economy as a result also ensures that the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka would see further growth. With foreign businesses engaged in Sri Lanka showing growth and profits while local businesses are also engaged in expansion programmes, foreign businesses/investors, especially from New Zealand could confidently explore the expanding and lucrative business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. Given all these positive developments, local businesses could also look at opportunities in forming collaborations with Sri Lankan businesses with the aim of further expansion locally and internationally.