Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Austin Fernando undertook an official visit to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh from 07 to10 September 2019 to attend the Sri Lanka-India Joint Naval Exercise, SLINEX 2019.
During his visit to the southern port city, High Commissioner Fernando also visited the Brandix Apparel Park, the largest Sri Lankan investment in India, and sought to provide solutions to administrative issues affecting the Sri Lankan community living in the Park.
In Visakhapatnam, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner was received at both Indian and Sri Lankan Navy ships participating in the joint naval exercise. On 08 September, the High Commissioner was received at Indian Navy Ship Sumedha, while on the 09th he was received at Sri Lankan Navy Ship Sindurala. On 09 September, High Commissioner Austin Fernando met with the Commander in Chief of the Eastern Naval Command of India Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain and senior officers of the Indian Navy, and discussed on the naval activities in the Palk Bay and the general issues arising from dealing with fishermen.
High Commissioner undertook a field visit to the Brandix Apparel Park in Visakhapatnam on 08 September and met with the senior management of the Park led by its CEO Rear Admiral (Rtd) Neil Rozairo. High Commissioner Fernando was the first Sri Lankan Government senior official to visit the Park since its establishment twelve years ago.
The 1000-acre Apparel Park, managed by Brandix, is the largest Sri Lankan investment in India and accommodates six companies owned by Brandix itself and several others belonging to other industrialists. The Park employs a total workforce of 23,000 and out of this, 17,500 are employed by Brandix-owned companies. Most of these employees are women. About 400 Sri Lankan technical hands and executive grade officers are among the workforce of the Park.
The High Commissioner later met the Sri Lankan workers in a separate meeting and sought to address their issues for which the intervention of the Government of Sri Lanka is required.
The High Commissioner was accompanied by Commodore Suresh de Silva, Defence Advisor of the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi during this visit.
