Business Shipping

Lanka invited for first Asia, Oceania Customs Brokers’ Association meeting

Japanese Custom’s Broker Association (JCBA) and China Customs Brokers’ Association (CCBA) jointly plan to hold an inaugural meeting on November 16 at Yokohama, Japan under Federation of Asia Oceania Customs Broker Association (FAOCBA) under the theme of Comprative Study of Customs Brokerage including AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) and Information Technology, for the International Federation of Customs Brokers; Association (IFCBA) members representing the Asia and Oceania region.

IFCBA are the national Customs Brokers’ Association in a country.

The meeting planned is the first meeting of FAOCBA which will held in our region apart from IFCBA meetings. Australia, China, India, Korea, Japan and Sri Lanka are scheduled to participate.

This meeting will be attended by M.S.M. Niyas the Chairman of ACFA, Association of Clearing and Forwarding Agents. The purpose of the comparative study is:

* - to promote a better understanding of the different Customs brokerage systems among FAOCBA members and interested countries in Asia so as to learn the strengths of each other and further improve the respective customs brokerage systems;

* - to strengthen the cohesion and understanding among FAOCBA members and interested countries in Asia;

* - to exchange mutually the administrative experiences on customs brokerage, customs brokers and Customs Broker Associations and that in implementation of SAFE framework;

* - to promote a better service in trade facility and supply chain security.

Customs Brokers are partners in International trade who bring together critical business information that allows importers to clear their goods safely, securely and quickly through Customs.

They manage your business data to ensure your goods meet Customs’ other country border enforcement requirements such as quality imports and exports standardisation, plant and animal quarantine, atomic and radiation control, ozone depleting substances control, phyto sanitary, pesticide control, cosmetic and drugs control, food and drugs, telecommunication regulatory, genetically modified etc amongst a host of compliance requirements.

They can also help traders turn Customs information into highly useful business intelligence. Many customs brokers offer special services that will help you develop new products, explore new markets, learn about global change, and cut costs.

Countries representing IFCBA are Angola, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, China, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Jamaica,Japan, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sri Lanka ,Sudan, Turkey, United States of America, Uruguay.

Presidential Award for Attapattu

With the Presidential Awards ceremony not taking place in 2005, the 32 winners for that year were given Awards of Excellence for their achievements in their categories by President Rajapaksa at a ceremony at the Presidential Secretariat recently.

Kiran Attapattu, Chairman of Colombo Engineering Enterprises, professional ship repair experts and service

 providers in the shipping sector was awarded the Presidential Export Award for year 2005 in the ship repairing service sector.

Attapattu has been a leading award winner in the shipping sector for the last 15 years and few of his awards were: Most outstanding young persons of Sri Lanka Award for 1993 given by the Junior Chamber of Sri Lanka, Entrepreneur of the year 1996 - Silver Award given by FCCISL, Exporter of the year 2004 - Silver Award given by the Chamber of Exporters Sri Lankan entrepreneur of the year- 2004 Silver Awad. (Western Province) given by FCCISL, Sri Lankan entrepreneur of the year - 2004 National Gold Award (FCCISL) and National Business Excellence Awards - 2005 Gold Award as the best knowledge integrator in Sri Lanka given by Chamber of Commerce.

SC allows Reliance to bid for sea link project

Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Energy Ltd got a boost with the Supreme Court allowing it to bid for the Mumbai sea link project, where a consortium led by elder brother Mukesh Ambani was the front-runner.

Setting aside a Bombay High Court order, an apex court bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia directed Reliance Energy to submit its financial bid for the Mumbai trans harbour sea link project within three months.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd had earlier disqualified the REL-led consortium from bidding for the country’s longest sea link expressway to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 2,600 crore.

With the decision, REL’s consortium would be the fourth bidder for the project, where three others have already qualified on technical grounds ahead of financial bids.

The Bombay High Court on June 4 had stayed the opening of the bids for four weeks till July 2, which was later extended by the Supreme Court.

The Reliance Energy consortium, which includes Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company Ltd, had challenged MSRDC’s decision to disqualify it from participating in the bidding process on the ground that its partner Hyundai did not meet the criterion of Rs 200 crore net worth.

PTI

Myanmar introduces cargo transportation to Sri Lanka

Myanmar’s state-owned overseas liner, the Myanmar Five Star Lines (MFSL), will introduce its cargo transportation service to Sri Lanka soon to mark the opening of direct sea link between the two countries to boost bilateral trade ties, the local, Flower News, reported Monday.

With rice and timber as main cargo along with other available goods, the MFSL will add the schedule which is being worked out, the report said. The move came after Myanmar and Sri Lanka agreed in November last year to establish direct air and sea links to effectively boost bilateral trade ties between the two countries as proposed by Sri Lanka. Currently, trade between Myanmar and Sri Lanka is transacted through Singapore.

Myanmar and Sri Lanka have projected to increase their bilateral trade volume by four-fold this year to reach 25 million U.S. dollars from over 6 million dollars in the previous years.

Sri Lanka mainly imports from Myanmar various beans and pulses, hardwood, cane products, rubber and wood logs, while exporting to Myanmar coffee, and packing paper.

Source: Xinhua