Fisheries Industry to set up business with Norwegian partners

An eight-member business delegation dealing with fisheries/boat industry from Norway will be visiting Colombo this month to establish business contacts with the business community in Sri Lanka.

To facilitate companies to interact with the delegates, the Sri Lanka Norway Matchmaking Programme of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will be organising a Matchmaking Event on February 23 at the Cinnamon Lakeside.

The delegates deal in designing of catamaran fishing vessels, discharge systems for deliveries for fish meal and fish meal plants, fish farm cages, anchor and mooring systems, fish farming pumps, long line equipment, supply of boats, deck machinery for oil and gas, marine and fishing industries and transfer of technology for aquaculture industry.

The fishing industry is the second largest export sector in Norway after oil and gas and includes traditional fishing, fish farming and processing of all kinds of seafood at onshore facilities.

Due to various factors, such as new technology and equipment, restructuring of the sector and international competition Norwegian fishing industry has improved during the past few years. Norway controls some of the world's richest fishing grounds.

The North Sea, Norway's coastal waters, the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea polar front are all productive, and there are important fish breeding grounds off the coast.

Norway's coastal districts also lend themselves to aquaculture, an industry which has developed and grown into a valuable coastal industry.

There are many opportunities for Sri Lankan companies to learn the new technology introduced by the Norwegian companies said the spokesman of the Sri Lanka Norway Matchmaking Program. The Sri Lanka - Norway Industrial Co-operation (Matchmaking) Programe was initiated by the Sri Lanka - Nordic Business Councils in 1993. Its objective is to facilitate the transfer of Norwegian know-how, competence, technology and skills to Sri Lanka by way of a matchmaking process. The Programe is funded by the NORAD.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce acts as the National Contact Point in Sri Lanka while NB Partner AS, an industrial consultancy firm in Norway acts as the National Contact Point in Norway.