Lankan products for Norway mulled

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

A Sri Lankan business delegation now in Norway is exploring the possibility of exporting Sri Lankan products through partnerships between the two countries, Embassy sources in Colombo said.

The delegation, which has gone to Norway under the Sri Lanka-Norway Business Match Making Program (NBMMP), includes Lankan businessmen engaged in renewable energy, ceramic ornaments, specialised rubber products fibre glass boats and accessories, waste to energy management and engineering and sewage treatment systems. The company representatives in the delegation will meet potential partners for business development.

Renewing relations between Sri Lanka and Norway, President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on Norway to continue development cooperation and promotion of trade and investments in the post-conflict period when he met the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenburg and the Minister of Environment and International Development Eric Solheim at the UN sessions, last month. The objective of the NBMMP is to set up sustainable and profitable joint ventures between Norwegian companies and their counterparts in Sri Lanka, through development of business partnerships which foster transfer of technology and the exchange of management and business skills between the two countries.

The NBMMP between Norway and Sri Lanka has been instrumental in increasing exports to Norway from Sri Lanka over the years. More than 100 partnerships have been established since the launch of the Match Making program in 1994.