Bangla trade fair nets 12 MoUs

Anjana Samarasinghe

TRADE FAIR: Sri Lankan business community who participated in the first country trade fair held recently in Bangladesh were able to enter into 12 MoUs with Bangladesh for further business expansion. Executive Director of the Export Development Board (EDB) Thimira Rajapaksa said the trade fair was highly successful.

Participants were able to enter into 12 MoUs with Bangladesh traders for long time business links. Most of these MoUs were on appointing distributing agents in Bangladesh for local products and joint business ventures. Others were still negotiating with their Bangladesh partners.

Companies such as Orange Electrical (Pvt) Ltd, Airducts Lanka Pvt and Intelliware Computer Systems entered into MoUs with the Bangladesh business community.

Rajapaksa said in Bangladesh there are many talented businessmen but no new business is coming into the country and Sri Lanka has ample opportunities in Bangladesh which has a large customer base.

There was a good response for the foreign degree educational institutes who participated at the trade fair.

Most of the Bangladesh students were to migrate to Sri Lanka and complete their foreign degrees here with minimum expenses, he said.

Sri Lanka Tea Board also was successful in promoting local tea in Bangladesh. Many Bangladesh traders were keen on importing Sri Lankan tea and add value in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshis were also interested in finding out details of Sri Lanka as a tourist destination. In Bangladesh, the tourist out flow, which is more than one million per annum, would consider Sri Lanka as a destination, Rajapaksa said.

There were over 12,000 visitors at the fair and in the all four days Sri Lankan participants were able to gain US$ 150,000 worth sales for their products.

However Rajapaksa said that it is important to obtain duty concessions under the SAFTA or any bilateral agreement to facilitate trade between the two countries.