Sri Lanka Czech Economic Forum for Enhanced Trade & Economic Cooperation. Minister Basil Rajapaksa & Czech Industry & Trade Minister Martin Kuba Address the First Forum

03rd April 2013, www.dailynews.lk,

A Sri Lankan delegation led by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa met Czech Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba, during the former’s visit last week to the Czech Republic. Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha was also included in the delegation.

The delegation attended the opening of the first Sri Lanka-Czech Economic Forum organized by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic. They also met Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas at his office.

Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Minister Martin Kuba addressed the Economic Forum and discussed prospects for enhanced trade and economic cooperation as well as opportunities for joint collaboration in important sectors of the two countries. The vast potential that exists for investment in Sri Lanka for the Czech Republic in areas such as infrastructure, energy, water and environment protection, food processing, sugar industry, leisure, recreation and hospitality, higher education, as well as in the sector of small and medium enterprises was highlighted at the discussion.

Minister Rajapaksa observed the increased potential for Czech tourists to visit Sri Lanka following the expansion of the island’s tourism sector. Both ministers expressed their intention to conclude an agreement on mutual cooperation between their ministries for creating favourable conditions to develop trade and economic cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The Czech representation handed over a draft of an agreement to the Sri Lankan delegation in this regard.

The Sri Lankan delegation also met Czech Republic’s Environment Minister Tomas Chalupa. They discussed issues relating to the promotion of sustainable energy and protection of the environment and means of cooperating in this area of global concern in international fora.

The two delegations discussed the possibilities of strengthening cooperation in the areas of renewable energy and waste management. Minister Premajayantha visited a waste recycling plant in Prague.

Minister Rajapaksa also met Czech Republic’s Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Tomas Dub and discussed ways for enhancing bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, investment and tourism.

Minister Rajapaksa met Czech Republic Vice President Jan Hamacek and Senate President Milan Stech at Czech Parliament. Their discussion centered on enhancing contacts between the legislative bodies of the two countries. They also emphasized the need to increase people to people contact, among other matters of bilateral importance.

Image: Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa addressing the first Sri Lanka-Czech Economic Forum. Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha and Czech Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba are also in the picture.

Related Info :

• High Level Visit to the Czech Republic by a Sri Lankan Minister to Promote Trade & Investment. Investment Protection & Promotion Agreement Signed

• Czech Investments to Set Up BPO/Call Centre in Sri Lanka

Asia Microfinance Forum 2010 Begins in Colombo with 450 Delegates from 50 Countries

14th October 2010, www.dailymirror.lk

The three-day Asia Microfinance Forum 2010 began in Colombo yesterday with the participation of around 450 delegates from 50 countries.

Until Friday at Cinnamon Grand the Forum, third biannual event will focus on "Financial Inclusion - Achieving Asia's Potential" with around 50 experts sharing key insights.

The Forum is organized by The Foundation for Development Cooperation and convened by Banking With The Poor (BWTP) Network, Chairman of which is HNB's Deputy General Manager Marketing and Retail banking Chandula Abeywickrema. HNB is the host whilst lead sponsor is Citi Foundation. The previous two events were held in Hanoi in 2008 and Beijing in 2006.

A key feature in today's program was a special session on Sri Lanka focusing on the state of the industry and ways forward. The conference was inaugurated yesterday by Central Bank Deputy Governor Priyantha Fernando. On Friday afternoon the closing plenary session will deal with financial inclusion - what are the core priorities whilst Deputy Finance Minster Dr. Sarath Amunugama is scheduled to deliver the closing keynote address.

Among topics covered by the Forum include role of microfinance in achieving financial inclusion today morning, followed by governance and management, transaction and portfolio risk management - inclusiveness and sustainability; special performance management - ensuring inclusion; essential checklist for successful investor relationship management, policy making - are we getting the framework right; financial literacy - whose responsibility; savings and inclusion; investing in Asia - opportunities, challenges and impact; invest Asia marketplace; housing finance; how do MFIs mainstream client protection; alternative delivery channels - overcoming geographic exclusion responsible lending - a new industry benchmark; youth entrepreneurship - diversifying income generation; and Human resources - the role of field officers and a robust HR policy.

At the opening reception held on Tuesday night, Chief Guest IMF Resident Representative in Sri Lanka and the Maldives Koshy Mathai perhaps set the right tone for the next few day's deliberations when he quipped "it is said a banker is someone who lends when you don't need money and micro financier is one who lends when you really need money."

He said micro finance was more than micro credit and effective financial inclusion plays a critical role in bringing people out of poverty. He said that if an ordinary person who lives on a hand to mouth existence cannot progress out of poverty then preoccupation in focusing on macro-economic stability was useless.

The Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC) Executive Director Craig Wilson said the biannual forum is the premium microfinance gathering in Asia. He said that financial inclusion has a positive correlation to improving livelihoods in Asia; hence the industry faces significant challenges. The latter was more so because there was huge disparity in financial inclusion across the region with its being 98% in Singapore, 8% in Papua New Guinea, 28% in Cambodia and 59% in Sri Lanka.

HNB Managing Director and CEO Rajendra Theagrarajah said that hosting of the Forum in Sri Lanka was timely and momentous as the country has set aside three decades of conflict and looking forward with optimism for prosperity in a peaceful era.

He said that financial inclusion is critical as Sri Lanka forges ahead with a heavy accent to infrastructure development, success of which is key to empower the baseline of small and medium enterprises and micro entrepreneurs who are a key part of the value chain yet often neglected.

He said that micro finance has an important role to play to ensure that socio-economic growth gets equitable in Sri Lanka whose economy is largely concentrated in the Western Province. "Rural areas are short of growth and wealth hence financial inclusion is critical to address this," Theagarajah added.

Glen Rase, Country Head and CEO of Citi Sri Lanka said Sri Lanka has a long history of microfinance and the Forum could learn from the country as well as the host gaining valuable lessons from the rest of the region's success stories.

"Micro finance industry has an important role to play in the economic revitalisation of post-war Sri Lanka," Rase said adding that Citi has a strong pipeline of support to the micro finance sector within Asia.

The Daily Mirror is the official media partner along with sister papers Daily Financial Times, The Sunday Times and Lankadeepa.

Image: Central Bank Deputy Governor Priyantha Fernando (centre) who was the chief guest at the inauguration of the three-day Asia Microfinance Forum yesterday in Colombo along with convenor Banking With The Poor (BWTP) Network, Chairman of which is HNB's Deputy General Manager Marketing and Retail Banking Chandula Abeywickrema (left) and Citi Asia Pacific CEO Shirish Apte. Pic by Upul Abayasekara.