Policy stability is key to facilitating business, building confidence among investors and attracting FDI, said President, Council for Business with Britain (CBB), Roshanie Jayasundera-Moraes.
She also called for a negotiation of an FTA between the UK and SL post Brexit.
Jayasundera-Moraes was re-elected President of the CBB of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce at the virtual AGM recently.
“Sri Lanka provides significant opportunities for British companies looking to access larger South Asian markets that have some of the fastest growing economies and sizable populations.
To facilitate this, Sri Lanka needs to improve its ranking on the Ease of Doing Business Index and it’s encouraging to know that our policy makers have made this a priority.
We look forward to these developments and also volunteer to support the process in whatever way we can, at least in the UK-SL trade corridor,” she said.
Over the past year, CBB has gained membership to the British Chambers of Commerce, enabling access to over 60 British Chambers globally.
Minister (Commercial), Sri Lanka High Commission in the UK, Dr. Lakmini Mendis said, “Last year was a challenging year for businesses. This compelled businesses to be more resilient and innovative while driving them to explore new markets. However, it’s been a remarkable year as total trade exceeded US$ 1 billion, despite the pandemic.
Apparel, comprising 70% of the export basket to the UK, was adversely affected but picked up later along with products such as rubber gloves, food items, coconut products, seafood and herbal teas.
“In April last year we experienced a dip but increased sharply to record high growth in July, August, September, and October exceeding the figures of 2019. Brexit was another challenge we successfully overcame. Many representations and presentations were made by this Mission to the UK DIT in London. With their support Sri Lanka received similar market access as the EU for exports to the UK under the enhanced preferential scheme. During 2020, CBB, CCC, SL High Commission in London, British High Commission in Sri Lanka and DIT in collaboration promoted trade and investment. A stronger bilateral trade agreement is anticipated, noting that UK is our second largest export market,” she said. UK High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton said, “I wish to reflect on how challenges can make us see new prospects, sometimes create opportunities to think or act differently, and maybe help us push towards positive change. So our thoughts have been turning towards building back better and moving towards that recovery from the pandemic, and I’d like to share some thoughts today on delivering change and in particular with an emphasis on climate action and clean growth, crucial areas of focus for both countries.
“How can we support countries like Sri Lanka in their economic growth and response to the global climate challenge? Clean growth is the core decarbonisation strategy.
Supporting clean transport, energy transition and greener buildings together with green financing are areas of discussion we are having with the Government and businesses. Business leaders also have a role to play in delivering on climate action.
I continue to encourage you to embrace and include energy efficiency and sustainable business practices as a key deliverable in your strategic business plans. I also hope you will work in partnership with the Government in playing your part to save our planet for our future generations,” she said.
The 2021/22 executive committee comprises Linda Giebing (General Manager, Hilton Colombo Residences) and Shirendra Lawrence (COO, MAS Holdings) as Vice Presidents, Irfan Thassim (MD, Oceanpick) as the Treasurer and Mark Prothero (CEO, HSBC Sri Lanka and the Maldives) as the Immediate Past President.
The new committee: Ameena Ziauddin (Development Director, Norfolk Foods), Tania Polonnowita Wettimuny (MD, Inter Air and Sea Logistics), Hajar Alafifi (Chairperson, Unilever Sri Lanka), Sarath Ganegoda (Director, Hayleys), S. Renganathan (MD, Commercial Bank), Arjuna Nanayakkara (Head of Shared Services, London Stock Exchange Group SL), Dougie Douglas (Founder, Point to Point Consulting), Indika Abeykoon (GM, Aitken Spence Travels), Gihan Jayasinghe (MD, Finlays Group), and Derek Mansfield (Director, De La Rue)