The Sri Lanka Norway Business matchmaking Program (BMMP)

The BMMP which has a long history was given a further extension of 2 1/2years recognizing its important contribution to promote trade and Investment between Norway and Sri Lanka.  This program has been identified as the best performing among similar programmes operating in India, Vietnam and South Africa according to an evaluation carried out by an independent agency appointed by Norad.

The CCC strengthened the team to serve the increasing needs of the Norwegian business sectors and also planned to focus on strategically important and mutually beneficial industrial sectors for both countries. Thus according to a proposal to develop the fishery industry in SL by the CCC, for the first time in the history of the Programme  a sector specific delegation visited SL in February 2011. This became a unique experience as a public /private sector initiative of designing a state of the art model multi day fishing vesel.  We have been encouraged by the response received from the Ministry of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources for this Project. A team from NARA and some of the Norwegian companies in ship and vessel designing are involved in this initiative.

The number of companies visiting Sri Lanka has increased considerably and 15 Norwegian companies have met 128 Sri Lankan companies during the period under review. A delegation of Sri Lankan industrialists visited Norway in October 2010. The sectors represented were ceramics, technical rubber products, Renewable energy and electronics, Waste management systems, Boats and accessories. Engineering & power and met with over 40 Norwegian companies. Some of the companies have already visited SL and some have already started operations.

During the year under review 4 MOUs were signed for industrial collaborations in (a) fruit processing, (b) fiber glass boats and accessories, (c) IT sector. The present outlook appears to be very positive as the number of companies keen to visit SL is on the increase and the services provided by the CCC has been greatly appreciated by Norad and our partner in Norway, Advanced Business Partner AS.