The Sri Lanka High Commission in Pretoria in collaboration with the State Ministry of Warehouse Facilities, Container Yards, Port Supply Facilities, Boats, and Shipping Industry Development, organised a webinar recently to identify business opportunities for the Sri Lanka boat industry, paying special attention to the fisheries sectors of Mozambique and Namibia.
The focus of the webinar was on fish-producing markets in this region which give lucrative opportunities for the international business community. A considerable amount of fisheries products of Mozambique and Namibia are exported to the European and Asian markets.
Sri Lanka High Commissioner Amarasekara outlined the opportunities available in these two markets and the movement of the international investment grants to the fishing industry focusing on community development. The competition comes from Spain, China, and Japan since they have already established their fishing businesses in this region.
The unsaturated harvesting capacity of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans encourages new investments/ businesses to enter these markets. Small and medium level entrepreneurs of the above two countries may be encouraged to venture into the fishing industry by introducing vessels of appropriate size and designs, for which, Sri Lankan boat manufacturing companies have the capacity. State Secretary Dammika Mataraarachchi outlined the necessity of penetrating this market by advanced business models going beyond the traditional export business and promoting the high calibre boating technology similar to the European and Japanese industries.
High Commissioner Amarasekara agreed to discuss with the authorities of the two countries to seek opportunities for Sri Lankan boat manufacturers.
State Secretary Mataraarachchi agreed to play the facilitating role for the Sri Lanka side. Representing the industry, Kapila Sumanapala of Neil Marine, Z.M. Hairu of Hairu Naval Craft Engineering, Sumithra Fernando and Sachitra Fernando of Dhanusha Marine, D.V. Abeysinghe – Colombo Dockyard, Indra Rajapaksha – BAFF Polymech participated. The Commercial Section of the Mission organised the event.