Commonwealth Parliamentary Association visits H’tota chamber
A delegation of Parliamentarians from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association visited the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) on July 25.
The delegation took the opportunity to exchange views and obtain background knowledge about HDCC and its activities, as well as overall development of the Hambantota District.
In opening the discussion, HDCC’s CEO Krishanthi Weerasinghe stressed as a regional chamber - HDCC is working with several UK partners, such as Manchester Solutions, Youth Business International and Volunteer Service Overseas and through these partnerships, gain benefits for the young people, as well as the business community and people of the wider district. The delegation was impressed with the new development projects as well as current infrastructure facilities underway in the district.
Krishanthi highlighted some of the emerging business opportunities, and described how planned megainfrastructure developments in the District had opened up opportunities for industries and support services such as health, communications, education, training, financial services and logistics. Whilst the district had not seen such a scale of develop- ment before, there were many new challenges as well. In response to these the HDCC is encouraging joint ventures between large enterprises and entrepreneurs in the district and promoting small and big business partnerships. Additionally it is also seeking transfer of management, technology and innovative financial solutions.
The delegation met three beneficiaries of t he Hambantota Youth Business Programme and were enthusiastic about this concept. They were interested to understand better the opportunities for British businesses to come to Hambantota and they inquired about land availability, government processes involved in starting businesses and other administrative issues. Officials from the British High Commission also participated in the discussions. The delegation was accompanied by a member of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry.