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Meeting between DCCI President and Sri Lankan High Commissioner held

His Excellency Dharmapala Weerakkody, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Bangladesh paid a courtesy visit to Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) today on 16 March, 2025 and had a meeting with the President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) Taskeen Ahmed.

During the meeting, DCCI President Taskeen Ahmed said that the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka reached USD 134.06 million in FY2023-24, marking a significant rise from USD 93.11 million recorded in FY 2019-20, reflecting an impressive growth rate of 9.5% per year. He also said that a good number of Sri Lankan investors especially from the banking, textile, power, construction and pharmaceutical sector already invested here in Bangladesh worth of USD 428.56 million as FDI. He also urged more Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to invest in agriculture and food processing, construction industry, healthcare, tourism, IT and FMCG sectors. Taskeen Ahmed moreover emphasized Sri Lanka's experience and technical assistance in the areas of deep-sea fishing, tourism and shipping industry. He also proposed to expand negotiations at the government level for the early signing of the proposed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), which would greatly enhance bilateral trade and investment.

During the meeting, Sri Lankan High Commissioner His Excellency Dharmapala Weerakkody said joint investment in the synthetic fabric manufacturing can be very potential for investors of both countries. Moreover, he highlighted healthcare, tourism, large hotel, IT, education and pharmaceutical sector as some of the most potential sectors for joint venture investment. He said Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are both SAARC countries and both the nations maintain a good friendly bilateral diplomatic relation since long. He therefore urged the entrepreneurs of Bangladesh to utilize Sri Lanka's experience and technical expertise to develop the local tourism sector of Bangladesh. He also said that Sri Lanka has already signed PTA with a number of countries and negotiations with Bangladesh will begin soon to further expand bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.

DCCI’s Senior Vice President Razeev H Chowdhury, Vice President Md. Salem Sulaiman and Counsellor (Commercial) of Sri Lankan High Commission Srimali Jayarathne were also present at that time.

Published on: 2025-03-16