The 26th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka – Korea Business Council (SLKBC) of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was held last week via MS Teams and Priyantha Mendis, Managing Director, Alpha Tours (Pvt) Ltd (General Sales Agent for Korean Air in Sri Lanka & Maldives) was re - elected as the President of the Council for the year 2020/2021.
John Shiran Dissanayake – Chairman, Transmarine (Pvt) Ltd and MShamil Mendis-Chairman/ Managing Director, Spear International (Pvt) Ltd. were elected as Vice Presidents of the Council.
Mahen Kariyawasan served as the Immediate Past President and the founder President Prof. Lakshman Watawala serve as an honorary member.
Woonjin Jeong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Sri Lanka said: “As Ambassador of Korea, strengthening the commercial ties between the nations in harmony with the national policy is among his top priorities. It is noteworthy that amid this pandemic, Sri Lanka was the first South Asian country which held a nationwide election and Korea was the first country in the world to hold a nationwide election successfully.”
“The global economy including the Sri Lankan economy has experienced a negative impact since the covid-19 pandemic. Businesses have incurred grave losses due to the travel restrictions, disruptions in global supply chains and the imposition of numerous lockdowns. At this juncture, he will do the best to help achieve the economic goals of Sri Lanka together with the Sri Lanka-Korea business council members.
His belief that the Sri Lankan economy will bounce back by attracting new foreign investors as it has shown strength and resilience in spite of past setbacks. Sri Lanka has great potential for growth and provides ample business opportunities with its strategic location, natural resources and high quality human resources which are very complimentary with the capital and technology of Korea. Strengthening the economic cooperation is thus vital to unlock the economic potential of Sri Lanka.
“I invite Korean investors to explore opportunities especially in the key sectors including agriculture, renewable energy, infrastructure, LNG, digital economy and so on. There is more potential for the business opportunities to expand between our two countries,” he said.
Mendis, President of SLKBC said: “The present Bilateral Trade between Sri Lanka and Korea is around USD 400 Million mainly in favor of Korea. Anyway, for the past 15 years Korean Government has offered employment opportunities to our youth on Manufacturing, Construction and fisheries sectors in Korea. At present there are around 30,000 Sri Lankans living in Korea, the biggest concentration of SL expatriate employees after Middle East.”
“But compared to ME & other countries the earning capacity & living standards much higher in Korea. So in short Korean Government is helping SL in a big way to earn much needed Foreign exchange to the country today. Also over 100 SL students are studying in Korean Universities many of them on scholarships given by Korean Government.”
Abans Ltd, Ceyline Shipping Ltd, Senok Trade Combine (Pvt) Ltd, Shipping & Cargo Logistics (Pvt) Ltd and Southern Tea Producers (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 – Korea Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
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