Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Taskin Ahmed has called for Sri Lankan experience and technical assistance in deep sea fishing, tourism, shipping, etc.
He also called on more Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to come forward to invest in Bangladesh in sectors such as agriculture and food processing, construction industry, healthcare, tourism, information technology and FMCG.
Today, Sunday (March 16, 2025), Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dharmapala Weerakkodi paid a courtesy call on Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Taskin Ahmed at the DCCI office.
During the meeting, DCCI President Taskin Ahmed said that the bilateral trade volume in the fiscal year 2023-24 is 134.6 million US dollars and bilateral trade is growing at a rate of about 9.5 percent every year.
He said that several Sri Lankan business entities in the financial sector, textile, power, construction and pharmaceutical industries have already invested about 428.56 million US dollars in Bangladesh.
He also said that the signing of the proposed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka needs to be completed quickly through government-level discussions between the two countries, which will greatly increase bilateral trade and investment.
Sri Lankan High Commissioner Dharmapala Weerakkodi said during the meeting that entrepreneurs in the synthetic fabrics sector of his country are very interested in investing in Bangladesh, along with great potential for joint investment by entrepreneurs from the two countries in healthcare, tourism, information technology, education and pharmaceutical industries.
He also called on Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to utilize Sri Lanka’s experience and technical expertise to develop the local tourism sector in Bangladesh.
He further said that Sri Lanka has already signed PTA with several countries and there is no alternative to signing PTA very soon to further expand bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.
DCCI Senior Vice President Rajib H Chowdhury, Vice President Md. Salim Solaiman and Consul (Commercial) of the Embassy of Sri Lanka Srimali Jayaratne were present at the time.
