Sri Lanka - Malaysia Business Council’s 26th Annual General Meeting

The Sri Lanka - Malaysia Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce held its 26^th Annual General Meeting on 28^th July 2020 at Hilton Colombo Residences. His Excellency Tan Yang Thai the High commissioner for Malaysia in Sri Lanka graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

Welcoming distinguish guests and members the President of SLMBC, Mr. Keerthi Jayasuriya said; “We are happy to have been able to continue with CSR projects, where we sponsored two medical students from the Rajarata University in honour of Tun Dr.  Mahatir Mohamed and two scholarships to Law students of the University of Colombo Law Faculty. These two scholarships were established in honour of Mr. Thilak Gunawardena, honorary life member of the council. In celebration of Christmas, we donated a 40” Television to the Mulleriyawa halfway home for women, along with a refrigerator donated by Ms. Nilrukshi de Silva a past president of the SLMBC.

In February 2020 an informative session, “Economic Directions of Sri Lanka, 2020 and beyond” was organized along with Dr. Nalaka Godahewa. The council was thus able to make a donation of Rs. 100,000.00 to the Itukama Fund. Furthermore, financial assistance schemes for four entrepreneurs were provided to restart after COVID-19. The candidates were selected through a list provided by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

His Excellency Tan Yang Thai congratulated the newly appointed committee and stated that in the past there had been many visitors from Malaysia who were keen to invest in Sri Lanka and had a number of trade delegation visits. One of Malaysia’s leading lubricant oil producers Hyrax Oil has officially opened a blending plant in Sri Lanka last year and SLMBC has successfully established a good link with Malaysian counterparts.  Malaysia, the gateway to ASEAN welcomes greater participation from Sri Lankan businesses and investments that offer huge market opportunities for more than 630M consumers.

The Bilateral Trade between the two nations have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka remains as an important trade and investment partner in the South Asian region for Malaysia. Malaysia’s total bilateral trade with Sri Lanka was and all time high with USD 929.1M last year with a 19.3 percent growth which is the highest in South Asia. In terms of investment Malaysia remains committed to invest in Sri Lanka.

Mr Keerthi Jayasuriya – Chairman/CEO of International Scholar Educational Services Pvt Ltd was re-elected as the President of the Council while Mr. Khalid Farouk, Director, Ilham Inspiration Ltd and Mr. Mohamed Hameez of Spillburg Holdings Pvt Ltd were elected as Vice Presidents.

Mr. Iqram Cuttilan, CEO/Managing Director, Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd, will be serving the Committee as the immediate past president.  As for Committee Members of the council for the year 2020/2021, Amana Bank, Dialog Telekom Ltd, Hemas Air Services Pvt Ltd, Public Bank BERHAD, Mansoor Gems, World Express CMB Ltd, Zam Gems were elected.

Photo - Sri Lanka Malaysia Business Council Executive Committee 2020-2021