Prajeeth Balasubramaniam re-elected as the President of SLSBC

08 potential subcommittees are in place to promote trade between Sri Lanka and Singapore

The 24^th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka – Singapore Business Council (SLSBC) of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was held on 16^th June 2021 via Zoom. The SLSBC was inaugurated in 1997 under the aegis of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce with the objective of promoting trade, investments, tourism and services between Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Mr. Prajeeth Balasubramaniam, Managing Partner, BOVCapital Ltd was re- elected as the President of the Council for the year 2021-2022. Mr Janaka Gunasekara – Deputy Managing Director, Agri Inputs, A Baur & Company Limited, Mr. Tan Beng Chuan – Corporate Manager, Prima Singapore and Mr. Shiluka Gunawardena, Partner KPMG were elected as Vice Presidents of the Council.

The Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Singapore in Colombo, Dr. Jayantha Dharmadasa remarked that the Council has moved forward despite of all obstacles to enhance trade between the two countries and he further mentioned that he is willing to extended his support towards the development of the council activities.

The President of SLSBC mentioned that “as promised at the last AGM the council took the initiative to formulate 08 subcommittees under the below sectors Gem and Jewellery, Real Estate, Healthcare/Pharma, Education, Agriculture/ Food Processing/ Security Ag-Tech, Rubber, (Tyre, Auto parts), Boat Manufacturing, Logistics, Supply Chain and last mile and Fintech. All sectors have made progress under each subcommittee with the help of relevant authorities and specially with the assistance of the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Singapore, Commercial Counselor of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Singapore, Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Business Federation and many other institutions in Singapore”.

He stated that the Real Estate subcommittee is organizing a webinar in the month July 2021 on the trending developments of Real estate sector in Sri Lanka which will be followed by a panel discussion. As a follow up action from the webinar on the Pharma Manufacturing Opportunities in Sri Lanka, the subcommittee is preparing a sectoral FDI note covering the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry landscape in Sri Lanka and intend to publish the same by Q3 or Q4 of 2021.

He also added that the Agri subcommittee is currently working with the Sri Lankan High Commission in Singapore to identify potential Venture capitalist and private investors to promote the selected Agri tech startups for potential investment and market opportunities. The Fintech subcommittee is working with the Sri Lankan High Commission in Singapore, Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Monetary Authority of Singapore on the Sandbox with the objective of increasing participation by domestic players as well as exploring possibilities for Singapore Finteh players to use the CBSL Sandbox.

Aitken Spence Cargo (Pvt) Ltd, Kalhari Enterprises, MAC Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC, Spear International (Pvt) Ltd, Star Promotions (Pvt) Ltd, Tengri Aero Industries (Pvt) Ltd were elected from the membership to serve on the Executive Committee of the Council.

Further details regarding membership of the Council could be obtained from the Secretariat of the Sri Lanka – Singapore Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, No. 50, Navam Mawatha, Colombo 2. E-mail: dinithi@chamber.lk or Tel.: 011-5588861, 5588800.

(L to R): Mr. Jerome Brohier, Vice President, Aitken Spence Cargo (Pvt) Ltd; Mr. Tan Beng Chuan – Vice President SLSBC; Mr. Tilak Gunawardana, Chief Financial Officer, MAC Holdings (Pvt) Ltd; Mr. Janaka Gunasekera – Vice President SLSBC; Mr. Prajeeth Balasubramaniam – President SLSBC; Mr. Eric Wikramanayake, Chairman, Tengri Aero Industries (Pvt) Ltd; Mr. Rohitha Mendis – Immediate Past President SLSBC; Ms. Kumi Miranda, Head of Leasing, Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC; Mr. Indhra Kaushal Rajapaksa, Chairman/Group Managing Director, Kalhari Enterprises; Mr. Shiluka Gunawardena – Vice President SLSBC; Mr. Shamil Mendis, Chairman/Managing Director, Spear International (Pvt) Ltd.; Mr. Sharhan Muhseen, Star Promotions.