The visit of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Trade & Investment delegation to South Africa was a joint initiative of the Sri Lankan High Commission in South Africa and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and involved the participation of ten Sri Lankan companies at Business Forums in Johannesburg, Pretoria and in Cape Town. The trade & investment Mission was organised as a follow up and reciprocal visit to the ANC Progressive Business Forum visit which took place in Colombo in September 2012. The CCC delegation visit to South Africa was also a meaningful outcome of the MOU signed between the CCC and ANC-PBF for collaborative business relationships between two countries.
Ten companies namely CIC Holdings PLC, CIC Agri Business (Pvt.) Ltd, Asia Pacific Investments (Pvt.) Ltd., Hayleys Fibre, Hayleys Industrial Solutions (Pvt). Ltd, Imperial Tea Exports (Pvt.) Ltd, Mechmar Cochran Lanka (Pvt.)Ltd., Microcells (Pvt.) Ltd., Selta (Pvt.)Ltd., and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce visited South Africa from 19th to 23rd November 2012.
The delegates were able to interact with nearly 200 companies during the visit at the business forums organised by the High Commission of Sri Lanka. Two business networking forums were organised by the High Commission of Sri Lanka in collaboration with ANC- PBF on 20th November at Glenhove Conference Centre in Johannesburg and on 22nd November at Taj Hotel in Cape Town. A MOU between Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was also signed to further strengthen business relations between the two countries.
The High Commission of Sri Lanka also organised a business networking forum in collaboration with the Capital City Business Chamber in Pretoria at the High Commission premises to the delegation to interact with companies in Pretoria.
Sri Lanka High Commissioner Shehan Ratnavale, Co-convenor of the ANC-PBF Daryl Swanepoel and President, Sri Lanka Africa-Middle East Business Council Samantha Ranatunga made the opening remarks at the Jo’burg Session before commencing the one to one business meetings. The business session was sponsored by M/s Boffin & Fundi, a South African Company which had visited Sri Lanka with ANC-PBF delegation.
Member of Parliament Cedric Frolick, House Chairperson Committees of the Parliament chaired the Business Forum at the Taj Cape Town. The session was addressed by Co-convenor of the ANC-PBF Renier Schoeman, Commercial Secretary of the High Commission Nalika Kodikara and leader of the delegation of the CCC Samatha Ranatunga. The session emphasised that the exchange of trade delegation between Sri Lanka and South Africa has given fresh impetus for trading relationship between the countries and the delegates were able to secure new opportunities in the South African market.
High Commission of Sri Lanka
Pretoria, South Africa
