Board of Investment hosts Chinese delegation from Yunnan and Xiamen
A delegation consisting of officials and entrepreneurs from the Yunnan Province and Xiamen in China visited the Board of Investment (BOI) in order to promote the participation of Sri Lankan state and private institutions at the 20th China International Fair for Trade and Investment (CIFIT) that will be held in Xiamen from September 8 to 11, 2018.
The BOI was represented by Executive Director Investment Promotion Prasanjith Wijayathilake, Director Media and Publicity Dilip S. Samarasinghe, Director Investment Promotion Nilupul De Silva and Senior Deputy Director Promotion, Chinese Sector Vipula Jayasinghe.
The CIFIT is China’s major economic exposition, which brings to China thousands of leaders in the economic sphere from all around the world. This year, it is to be held in Xiamen, which is an important city in Southern China that has often been the venue for international events such as the BRICS Summit (September 3-5, 2017). The BRIC Summit brings together the leaders of the giant emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The delegation informed the BOI officials that Xiamen has excellent links to the USA, Australia and Europe and a very strong MICE sector.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated, “Xiamen had become well-known for its innovation and entrepreneurship.”
It is therefore a very good platform for Sri Lanka to promote trade and investment from China. The delegation also informed the BOI that the CIFIT has a very large database of Chinese investors and Sri Lankan projects can be effectively promoted through the organisation’s database.
The delegation also stated that the Vice Minister of Commerce of China is actively promoting investments from China at the CIFIT summit.
Furthermore, China will be using the summit as a platform to celebrate three major events, namely the 40th anniversary of the opening of China’s economy, One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR) and BRICS Summit to be also held in Xiamen.
The Yunnan Province, which was also represented at the meeting, is important because it is considered in China as the Gateway to Southeast Asia, since it borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Its capital Kunming also has a close connection with South Asia and hosts a trade fair to promote links between China and South Asia. Yunnan, which has a semi tropical climate, produces crops such as tea, coffee and rubber.
The leader of the delegation, Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Convention and Exhibition Affairs Deputy Director General Shao Jing Yang stated, “Sri Lanka is a friend of China and a very important country on the One Belt One Road scheme. Now there is a considerable degree of interaction between Sri Lanka and China and we can witness the extensive Chinese construction activities as well as investments in Sri Lanka.”
“The CIFIT can play an important part in expanding Chinese investments to Sri Lanka and the BOI could promote the CIFIT and bring Sri Lankan companies to the fair. Sri Lanka can boost investment by participating in the CIFIT. Also, this can promote co-operation between enterprises in Sri Lanka and in China.”
She added, “We have a bilateral agreement between Sri Lanka and the Yunnan Province. There is just one Sri Lankan investor in Yunnan at present and there are eight Yunnan Province investors in Sri Lanka. I believe the value of investment from Yunnan to Sri Lanka is currently US $ 86 million. We will hold business-tobusiness matchmaking seminars during the CIFIT. And we are confident that this will further encourage and foster economic co-operation between our two private sectors.”