The 19th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka – Australia – New Zealand Business Council (SLANZBC) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was held recently at the Taj Samudra Hotel.
Addressing the members, President of the council Lionel D. C. Silva, the Chairman, Lidechsi Group of Companies, who was re-elected for the term 2014-2015 stressed that the Council will work on promoting Sri Lanka’s trade activities with Australia and New Zealand, by proactively engaging with the Board of Investments of Sri Lanka, Department of Commerce, Export Development Board and AUSTRADE.
According to Silva during the concluded year, the council conducted several important activities such as, holding an Interactive Discussion Session on Doing Business with Australia, meeting the Australian Minister of Foreign affairs Honourable Julie Bishop, holding the Annual Christmas Party 2013 which is the Councils biggest networking event and also undertaking its very first CSR Project, where a substantial donation was made to the Sucharithodaya Child Development Center, located at Maharagama.
More recently, the SLANZBC together with the Deakin University of Australia, and AUSTRADE conducted a seminar on “Marketing Communication in the Digital world”.
Mark Francis, Executive Director of Malship Ceylon Ltd., Ramya Weerakoon, Vice President – Business Development of Infotechs Ltd., Manjula Lanerolle, Managing Director, Glolan International (Pvt) Ltd., Kishani Seneviratne, Jt. Managing Directress, Westmann Engineering Co. Ltd. were elected as Vice Presidents of the Council respectively.
The following companies were elected to serve on the Committee for the Year 2013-2014. AGXINTL (Pvt) Ltd., Dart Global Logistics (Pvt) Ltd., Hayleys Agriculture Holdings Ltd., Informatics (Pvt) Ltd., John Keells Holdings PLC, Microcells (Pvt) Ltd. Abans (Pvt) Ltd., International Institute of Health Sciences (Pvt) Ltd., Waters Edge Ltd., Qantas Airways Ltd., Delmege Forsyth & Co. Ltd.
Senaka Silva, Honarary Consul for New Zealand, Dr. Lakshman Jayaweera, Chairman, Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, Shameel Javadh, Country Manager, Australian Trade Commission and Samaji Seneviratne will elected to serve as Honarary Members.
The event was graced by Sonya Koppe, Actg. High Commissioner of Australia in Sri Lanka and by Michael Appleton, Deputy High Commissioner for New Zealand – India Office. Congratulating Mr. Lionel Silva and the Committee, Koppe appreciated the SLANZBC’s role in hosting and facilitating business delegations. It is anticipated to promote bi-lateral trade between the two countries through focused sectors such as Agriculture, Infrastructure, Education, Hospitality & Health. Appleton congratulated Lionel Silva the President and shed some light upon New Zealand’s prospective areas of trade with Sri Lanka such as Farming technology, Dairy products, Tourism and education. He also highlighted on the visit of a Delegation from New Zealand to Sri Lanka in November and how it could be used as a platform for Sri Lanka and New Zealand to widen their trade horizons.
