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Sri Lanka’s boat industry to be promoted in Southern Africa 

27 Sep 2021

The boat industry of Sri Lanka is to be promoted in the fishing region of Mozambique and Namibia with the intention of developing its fish producing market in order to develop their export market.  In collaboration with the State Ministry of Warehouse Facilities, Container Yards, Port Supply  Facilities, Boats, and Shipping Industry Development of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka High Commission in Pretoria organised an informative webinar on 13 September 2021 to identify the possible business opportunities for the Sri Lankan boat industry, focusing on the fisheries sectors of Mozambique and Namibia. The webinar was on developing fish- producing markets in this region which give lucrative opportunities for the international business community. A considerable amount of fisheries products of Mozambique and Namibia are exported to the European and Asian markets.  High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to South Africa S. Amarasekara highlighted the opportunities available in these two markets and the movement of the international investment grants to the fishing industry focusing on community development. The competition is coming from Spain, China, and Japan since they have already established their fishing businesses in this region. The unsaturated harvesting capacity of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans encourages new investments and/or businesses to enter into these markets. Small and medium-level entrepreneurs of the above two countries may be encouraged to venture into the fishing industry by introducing vessels of appropriate size and designs, for which the Sri Lankan boat manufacturing companies have the capacity.  State Secretary Dammika Mataraarachchi expressed the necessity of penetrating this market by advanced business models going beyond the traditional export business and promoting the high calibre of boating technology similar to the European and Japanese industries. The participants said that the demand for the boats should be addressed from the viewpoint of eradication of poverty and fulfilling the nutrition gap of the community in the region. High Commissioner S. Amarasekara agreed to discuss with the relevant authorities of the above two countries to seek opportunities for the Sri Lankan boat manufacturers. State Secretary Mataraarachchi agreed to play the facilitating role for the Sri Lanka side. Representing the industry, Kapila Sumanapala representing Neil Marine Company, Z.M. Hairu representing Hairu Naval Craft Engineering, Sumithra Fernando and Sachitra Fernando representing Dhanusha Marine, D.V. Abeysinghe representing Colombo Dockyard PLC, and Indra Rajapaksha representing BAFF Polymech participated and shared their experiences relevant to the African region. The Commercial Section of the Mission organised and moderated the event.


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