On 7 September 2016, H.E. Mr. Nopporn Adchariyavanich, Ambassador of Thailand to Sri Lanka, attended the annual general meeting of the Sri Lanka-Greater Mekong Sub-region Business Council (SL-GMS BC) at Ballroom, Hilton Colombo Residences. The meeting was attended by around 60 Sri Lankan businessmen who are the members of the SL-GMS BC and have been doing business with the private sector from the countries in the Mekong sub-region.

           On this occasion, the Chairman of the SL-GMS BC invited Ambassador Nopporn to deliver remarks regarding trade and investment between Thailand and Sri Lanka. Ambassador Nopporn stated that Thailand and Sri Lanka have enjoyed closed and cordial relationship, which traces back to nearly 800 years ago based on long-standing Buddhism relations. Therefore, upon the assumption of his duty in November 2013, Ambassador Nopporn has endeavoured to enhance and promote Thailand-Sri Lanka relations in other areas of cooperation, in particular, trade and investment. During the past years, Ambassador Nopporn has made contact with many Sri Lankan and Thai businessmen, and biannually organised business matching between the businessmen of the two countries every year. From such experiences and exposure, Ambassador Noppporn realized that opportunities in trade and investment between Thailand and Sri Lanka, which have high economic potential, encompass 7 business sectors, namely agriculture, fisheries, construction and building materials, tourism, energy, and consumer products. Some of which have made much progress. For example, the Siam City Cement Company has bought 98 per cent of shares of the Holcim Lanka, which is a Swiss cement-producing company based in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the CP Foods has invested in the processed poultry products in Sri Lanka, etc.