Third South Asian Commodity Fair in Kunming:

Opening new vistas of Sino-Lanka trade

The Third South Asian Countries Commodity Fair (SACC) was officially inaugurated at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Kunming, the city of ‘Eternal Spring’ on June 6, 2010. Part I of this articles appeared yesterday

At the Third South Asian Commodity Fair there are over 2,000 booths at each session, which includes many international joint venture companies and companies from other Asian and Southeast Asian countries. It is also categorized as one of the top 10 trade fairs in China. Therefore having the Third SACTF fair in conjunction with the Kunming Fair for the second successive year paves the way for a wider interaction and business opportunities for South Asian business community to reach out to the region.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry and the People’s Government of Yunan Province welcomed the Sri Lankan delegation headed by Finance and Planning Deputy Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama.

Dr Amunugama delivered the Keynote address at the Fifth South Asia - China Business Forum. In his speech ‘Strengthening China-South Asia Cooperation on the road to global economic recovery,’ he said the fair acted as a catalyst providing a mechanism to establish firm linkages between the Chinese and the SAARC.

He said “we have been provided with a conducive environment to advance greater cooperation - favourable geographical conditions, linkages and networks are in place and most importantly, support from our people. China is South Asia’s biggest neighbour and our good-neighbourly relations are deep-rooted. With a combined population that account for over 40 percent of the world’s total, both these regions put together is a sizeable market component. As responsible stakeholders we all face the task of developing our economies to improve living standards of our people.” Dr Amunugama also elaborated on the conducive environment that has been created in Sri Lanka for investments from China and the world after successfully wiping out terrorism.

Addressing the forum, Ambassador Karunatilaka Amunugama said economic growth depends on continuous high investments and innovations leading to improvement in productivity and not temporary increases in consumption. It should facilitate the private sector to invest more and have policies to make people work harder. He further said Asia must look at boosting domestic demand amongst the Asian nations as a first measure of overcoming the drawbacks of the global financial crisis. He said Asian countries have a big enough market to generate the expected demand. What is required is for countries to make concerted efforts under regional co-operative platforms. Sri Lanka is at the epicentre of opportunity - having already laid the foundation for an era of economic development with the defeat of terrorism. He noted that coupled with Sri Lanka’s strategic location point in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is now poised to take off.

During the visit, the Minister and the delegation had meetings with, Yunnan Province Governor Qin Guangrong, Chairman China Council Wan Jifei Matters related to trade and investment promotion between Sri Lanka and China in the Yunnan province were discussed. Yunnan Governor has already scheduled a visit to Sri Lanka in August 2010 subsequent to the fact- finding mission of Yunnan Province that took place during the latter part of last year with the visit by Vice Governor. Due to the geographic location, Yunnan is an important place in China to develop foreign trade.

He also pointed out that China has become the leading development partner of Sri Lanka in 2009 and the significant increase of Sri Lanka’s exports to China from USD 34 million in 2006 to USD 70 million in 2009. However, he pointed out that there is plenty of opportunities for Chinese investors to locate in Sri Lanka which will then complete a very productive economic cooperation partnership between the two countries.

He further said all parts of the country are now being open for development with the advent of peace. The key sectors of electricity, highways, irrigation, water supply, ports and airports, transport facilities, cities and investment zones have been prioritized for development throughout the country and urged the investors to make the maximum use of the opportunity.

Concluded