Sri Lanka Can Serve As Hub For Malaysian Businesses - NCCIM

By Mohd Haikal Isa JOHOR BAHARU (Malaysia), Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Sri Lanka can serve as a hub for Malaysian businesses intending to penetrate the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. This follows from the trade facilitation agreement already entered into between Sri Lanka and India, National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) Secretary-General Datuk Syed Hussien Al-Habshee said Thursday. He was speaking to Bernama after meeting Sri Lanka Export Development Board Director Prasad Aduwatta in Kuala Lumpur. Syed Hussien said trade between Sri Lanka and Malaysia showed an increasing trend with total bilateral trade in the first eight months of 2011 reaching RM1.6 billion. (US$1=RM3.18) "Malaysia's exports during the period have hit RM1.2 billion, comprising mainly of palm oil, petroleum products and electronics," he said. Total trade between Malaysia and Sri Lanka during the same period last year was RM967 million with Malaysia's exports totaling RM840 million, he said. He said that to enhance trade, the NCCIM would launch the Malaysia-Sri Lanka Business Council in January and send a 60-member delegation led by its president Syed Ali AlAttas to Sri Lanka in March. International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed is expected to launch the business council. Syed Hussien said Malaysian businessmen could venture into many sectors in Sri Lanka such as halal products, services, construction, tourism and IT. Another potential sector was education, he said adding that Malaysia presently hosted about 3,000 students from Sri Lanka. "We hope by 2012, we can increase the number to 6,000 students," he said. -- BERNAMA