NCC to host EU envoy for trade talks
European Union Ambassador to Sri Lanka Tung–lai Margue will be the special guest speaker in the next ‘Meet the Ambassador’ programme on ‘Bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and European Union’.
It is to be held on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, at the National Chamber, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., at No: 450, D R Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10.
The participants will get an opportunity to have a close dialogue with the ambassador and other officials of the European Union Embassy and find out information on trade matters and services available for Sri Lankans.
The European Union is an international organisation made up of 28 European countries located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km and an estimated population of over 510 million. The headquarters of the European Union is Brussels, in Belgium.
The European Union countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
The European Union governs the world’s biggest economy with about 14 trillion euros in terms of goods and services. Its economy surpasses the US. The US is the European Union’s main trading partner. The European Union provides more foreign aid than any other economic union.
The European Union has been Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner over the recent years. The balance of trade between the two parties has been in favour of Sri Lanka during the last 10 years, having an increasing trend with fluctuations in certain years.
Exports from Sri Lanka to the European Union include major export of apparel, which accounts 59.68 percent of the total exports. Other exports include tea, tobacco, manufactured tobacco substitutes, solid tyres, retreaded or used pneumatic tyres of rubber, etc. The import items from the European Union to Sri Lanka are paper and paperboard, iron and steel articles, optical, photographic, cinematographic, medical or surgical instruments, motor cars, etc.
To register for the session kindly contact the chamber on 011- 4741788.