1. Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka, was invited to participate inand give gathering speech to the annual meeting of Sri Lanka-Greater Mekong Subregion Business Council

 

            On Friday 11 September 2015 H.E. Mr. NoppornAdchariyavanich, Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka, was invited to participate inand give gathering speech to the annual meeting of Sri Lanka-Greater Mekong Subregion Business Council under the Ceylon of Commerce at Hilton Residence Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 

            H.E. Mr. Noppornsaid that Southeast Asian countries will becomean ASEAN Community by the end of 2015. As a result, there will be free or freer flow of goods, services, capitals and investment among ASEAN members. Additionally, foreign investors who invest in any ASEAN member willalso enjoy the benefit of trading goods with other ASEAN members if their goods fulfil thecriteriaunder the rules of origin. Accordingly, this is an opportunity for Sri Lanka to do business and invest in Thailandand exportgoods to otherASEANcountries. 

 

            With respect to the trade and investment between Thailand and Sri Lanka, the value of trade between two countries approximately amounts to 500-600 million US dollars per year. The Thai main exports to Sri Lanka are used cars, sugar and dried fish, while the Sri Lankan main exports to Thailand are jewelry, fabrics and tea. However, the statistics do not reflect the actual trade value since they fail to include the trade volume of which Sri Lanka businessmen or touriststravel to Thailand, purchase and bring back products from Thailand to Sri Lanka,especially electronics and clothes. Regarding investment, the value of Sri Lankan investment in Thailand approximately amounts to 22 million US dollars (2013), while the value of Thai investment in Sri Lanka amounts to 17 million US dollars.Besides, the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo has arranged the Project of Doing Business with Thailandtwice a yearby bringing Sri Lankan businessmen to Thailand and providedthem chances to meet with Thai businessmen. After the meeting, several Sri Lankan businessmen expressed their interest in trade and investment with Thailand.