Sri Lanka's food processing, education and health sectors and business process outsourcing sectors are of interest to the United Arab Emirates, visiting UAE minister of Foreign Trade Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi said.
"We also want to open doors to SMEs of both countries and take part in more and more business forums and exchange trade & business delegations” she addressing the first ever high powered UAE-SL Business concluded yesterday (Nov. 24) at Hilton Colombo.Sri Lanka also has more to offer due to new growth sectors such as food processing and BPO," the UAE minister said.
With 192 business participants, 48 of whom were from the UAE and the rest from Sri Lanka, the event also led to more than 30 successful business to business mini-networking and introduction sessions between UAE and Sri Lankan business delegates continuing long after the Forum itself concluded.
“For Sri Lanka, UAE is the second largest trade partner in the Middle East after Iran. The theme of Expo 2012 is Partner with Sri Lanka the Hub of Asia. This event is a strong boost for the forthcoming Sri Lanka Expo 2012 to be held in March next year”, said Chairman and CEO of Export Development Board Janaka Ratnayake.
Trade between the two countries had increased to 581 million US dollars in 2010 from 528 million in 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said.
Up to September 2011, trade had increased to 807 million US dollars with petroleum accounting for 267 million US dollars. Except in 2007, the trade balance had favoured the UAE during the last 10 years.
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