France will enhance technical assistance to Sri Lanka: French Envoy

The Sri Lanka – France Business Council of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce recently conducted its 19th Annual General Meeting, followed by a reception hosted by the Ambassador of France Jean-François Pactet.
Speaking at the AGM, Ambassador Pactet presented the economic relations between the two countries, highlighting that France assisted with establishing Sri Lanka’s Committee of Official Creditors, which it co-chairs with Japan and India, and is playing a key role in the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s external official bilateral debt.

France, through the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Ministry of Economy continues to develop its cooperation through grants in order to finance technical assistance in the agriculture, renewable energy, and marine sectors in Sri Lanka. 
Detailing several planned initiatives in these sectors, Ambassador Pactet added that the Economic Department of the French Embassy is keen to work actively with the SLFBC to continue developing bilateral trade and investment. He mentioned the dynamism of Sri Lankan exports to France in 2022, resulting in a growing trade surplus of 432 M in favour of Sri Lanka and his will to rebalance the bilateral trade by developing French exports to Sri Lanka.
President of the SLFBC, 
Ashiq Lafir, who was re-elected to lead the Council for the year 2023/24, highlighted the Council’s activities over the past year, including meetings with the new Ambassador, signing of an MOU with the European Chamber of Commerce, networking events as well as activities related to commemorating the 75th anniversary of bilateral relations between France and Sri Lanka. 
He added that the SLFBC is committed to fostering stronger trade, investment, and tourism ties between Sri Lanka and France and looks forward to continuing its efforts in the coming year.

 Andre Fernando, Chairman/Managing Director of MAC Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, and Geeshan Wijenayake, Regional Manager - BoardPAC Global Innovation Center were elected as Vice Presidents for the Year 2023-24. 
CEVA Logistics Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., CMA CGM Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC, Inter Air & Sea Logistics (Pvt) Ltd., Puritas (Pvt) Ltd. were nominated to serve on the Committee, while representatives from the Board of Investment Sri Lanka, Export Development Board Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the Economic Counsellor from the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka will serve as invited members.