CCC breaks into Jordanian, Kuwaiti markets
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Trade Fair Unit which was set up
mainly with the objective of assisting members in penetrating into new
markets, concluded its programme of activities for the year 2008 with
yet another success story.
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Prabash Kombalavithana, Imperial Tea Exports (Pvt) Ltd., Public
Relations Executive, Rania Samadi, Amman Chamber of Commerce,
Shamendra Panditha, Alucop Cables Ltd., Puvi Domingopillai of
Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Sarath Chandra De Silva of
International Foodstuff Co. Agri Bio Tech (Pvt) Ltd., Muhannad
Attar, Director General, Amman Chamber of Commerce, S M J B
Subasinghe, First Secretary/Head of Chancery Embassy of Sri
Lanka in Jordan, Anura Siriwardhana, Chemical Industries
(Colombo) PLC, Mohamed Azweer, U S Shipping and Cargo Services (Pte)
Ltd. |
This time the identified markets were Jordan and Kuwait and the
delegates were successful in breaking into these markets.
The mission was led by Chairman, International Foodstuff Co. Agri Bio
Tech (Pvt) Ltd., Sarath Chandra De Silva.
With the assistance of the Sri Lankan Embassies in Jordan and Kuwait
and Director/CEO, EAM Maliban Textiles Jordan (Pvt) Ltd. Athulla
Edirisinghe the mission members had the opportunity of meeting with
members of the Amman Chamber of Commerce, the American Chamber of
Commerce of Jordan, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the
business communities in both countries.
Jordan and Kuwait are two potential markets for Sri Lanka with no
trade barriers or obstacles and the CCC feels that with the trade
balance being in favour of Sri Lanka, this visit was timely. 'We were
able to create awareness amongst the business communities of both
countries, about the range of products Sri Lanka can offer. From the
meetings our delegates had, Jordan was projected as a most promising
market,' said the Chamber spokesman.
Sarath De Silva commenting on the mission stated 'the noteworthy
factor of this mission was, though it was a small delegation, it was
well representative of the Sri Lankan sector. These two trade
destinations were not explored in the past and with the present trend in
the Gulf, there is tremendous potential for growth.
Our visit assisted in expanding our businesses, which would lead to
Sri Lanka emerging as a future trade centre. With the Middle East peace
process in the offing, there is no doubt the future of trade between Sri
Lanka and these two markets will increase. Great scope for development
of agriculture too, is forecast. I was able to obtain US$ 300,000 worth
business contacts for fruits and vegetables,' he said.
The delegation had the opportunity of meeting with over 50
organizations, of which, 35 were relevant enquiries, 15 positive
responses and 2 confirmed orders. Whilst a majority of the delegates
established new contacts, some of them were able to revive past
contacts.
Puvi Domingopillai responding to the outcome of the mission said, in
addition to contacts made, it was partly a fact-finding mission to look
into the options of opening up trade relations.
Overall, I feel there are great opportunities for us to utilise to
penetrate into these markets.
The most gratifying factor was the confirmed orders received by two
delegates in Jordan'. |
