Industry and Commerce Minister to lead business delegation to
Belgium
A business delegation led by Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad
Bathiudeen will visit Belgium from November 16-17. The delegation will
include Sri Lanka Export Development Board Director General Sujatha
Weerakoon and representatives from the private sector.
This is the first time in over a decade that such a high level
business delegation visits Belgium. It is considered as a reciprocal
visit to the visit undertaken by the representatives of 40 Belgian
companies to Sri Lanka in November 2010 and is also intended to attract
potential Belgian entrepreneurs to Sri Lanka's premier exposition
'Expo-2012' to be held in March 2012.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels in collaboration with Brussels
Export, Commerce and Industry (BECI) and Brussels Invest and Exports has
arranged a comprehensive programme of B2B meetings for the Sri Lanka
private sector representatives, which will be held on November 17 at
BECI in Brussels. Over 60 Belgian potential buyers, joint venture
partners and investors have already confirmed their participation at the
B2B meeting programme.
Besides the B2B meetings at BECI, the two-day programme in Belgium
will include interactive meetings at the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce,
the Antwerp Diamond Centre and a visit to the Trade Mart Centre where
Belgian importers and distributors are located.
Belgium has become a logistics centre in Europe catering to 60% of
the European market. It is therefore vital for Sri Lanka to develop
increased business links with Belgian business persons to facilitate
reaching major European markets such as France, Germany, the UK and the
Netherlands. The programme planned would be of use to interested Sri
Lankan exporters in reaching this promising market. |