Chile explores investment potential in Lanka

The New Delhi based Chilean envoy Andres Barbe visited the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce last week to explore the investment potential in Sri Lanka.

The Ambassador was welcomed by CEO and Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Mangala P.B. Yapa and Senior Assistant Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Lilakshini de Mel.

Ambassador Barbe discussed the possibility of Chile focusing on exporting goods to the Indian and the rest of the Asian markets, using Sri Lanka as a platform.

"It takes 60-days for us to ship our products to the Indian market from Chile, which is very time consuming and costly," the Chilean envoy said.

He said minerals, forestry, agriculture value addition, such as producing wines and also fruits are some of the county's biggest industries.

Yapa said Chile can use the tax-free Hambantota Port as a hub to focus on the South Asian market and the rest of Asia as Sri Lanka is connected to the global maritime route.

The Ambassador said he will work to bring a high level Chilean delegation soon to Sri Lanka to further discuss available opportunities.

Andres Barbe said that Chile has signed 24 Free Trade Agreements with different nations and the country strongly believes in free trade. Chile is in the South American region.

Honorary Consul General for Chile in Sri Lanka and the former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber Commerce Mano Selvanathan were also present.