Indian business delegation here

Enthused by the good response received from the Sri Lankan government, captains of Indian industry have agreed to do their bit to balance the bilateral trade that is loaded heavily in favour of India, promote cultural exchange between the two countries and make huge investments in energy and tourism sectors.

A 13-member business delegation, representing the Confederation of Indian Industry Southern Region (CII-SR), landed in Colombo on Sunday as part of three-day trip and had a series of discussions with their counterparts.

It included a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, on Monday and business-to-business meeting with Sri Lankan businessmen.

Talking to The Hindu, CII-SR Chairman T.T. Ashok said that they have agreed to build capacities of people in Sri Lanka in various fields including information technology, construction, automotive components and pharma to develop domestic market; train the trainers by allowing them to gain first hand experience at various CII Centres of Excellence in India.

Leader of the delegation, CII vice president S. Gopalakrishnan, has agreed to provide training in the information technology sector at his own cost.

During the interactions, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce representatives urged India to review the limits imposed on tea and apparels and expressed concern about non tariff barriers.

"We are proceeding in the right way with the Sri Lankan delegation taking part in the CII Partnership Summit at Hyderabad in January followed by a high level delegation visit to Chennai in February," he said.