Innovative New Zealand businesses are visiting Colombo this week to continue forging business and trade links with Sri Lanka. 

Seventeen New Zealand companies from a range of industries are visiting Sri Lanka as a business delegation led by former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Sir Don McKinnon ONZ GCVO and High Commissioner to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal Grahame Morton.

Trade between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has expanded rapidly over the past decade. Currently, New Zealand and Sri Lanka’s two-way trade is worth US $ 280 million. In the year to June 2015 New Zealand exported US $ 229 million worth of goods to Sri Lanka, with milk powder, apples and pears and butter being the top exports.

The majority of New Zealand’s trade is commodity based but there are increasing opportunities for New Zealand companies in Sri Lanka, particularly in the aviation, training and education, specialised manufacturing and creative industries. 

There are five education institutions joining the business delegation, all offering New Zealand qualifications which are in demand in the job market and ensuring work-ready graduates. The visiting Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) seek to engage with Sri Lankan education providers as well as corporates and industry, to showcase their offerings and establish mutually beneficial linkages.

The following New Zealand companies are visiting Sri Lanka as part of the business delegation: DGL International Powder Coatings, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd, Eastern Institute of Technology, Genomic and Personalised Medicine Ltd, International Aviation Academy of New Zealand, Maxiloda Limited, NORTHEC, Patton Refrigeration India (Pvt.) Ltd, Powershield Ltd, QualityNZ, Southern Institute of Technology, Tait Communications, Unitec Institute of Technology, Vista Entertainment Solutions, WAML Group, Wellington Institute of Technology and Whitireia New Zealand.