Lankan SMEs invited to Swiss SME gathering in June 2014
View(s):Sri Lanka’s SMEs have been invited to take part in an Asia-Pacific SME meeting in June 2014 in Switzerland, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said.
Beat Ineichen, Senior Consultant India of Switzerland Global Enterprise (SGE), a global SME expert, was quoted by the ministry as saying that, “I have 17 years of SME experience in Asia alone with four in Malaysia. I am here on a fact finding mission as a follow up to a visit of Wolfgang Schanzenbach, Regional Director Asia Pacific of Switzerland Global Enterprise (SGE). I am now hopeful that we collaborate closely with Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka can immensely benefit from the innovative side of Swiss SME, which is more than 95 per cent of the Swiss economy, except for Nestle and Holcim.”
Mr. Ineichen made these comments during a October 30 meeting in Colombo with Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.
“Sri Lanka SMEs need tech capability for them to advance. Your food processing, water bottling, dairy and livestock, and packaging are some of the SME sub-sectors that picked our immediate interest,” he was quoted as saying.
The Swiss SME consultant said they were inviting Sri Lankan SMEs to attend the forthcoming Asia Pacific SME event in Switzerland in June 2014. He said a 10-member Swiss business delegation led by Mark Dangel, Chairman of Sri Lanka Committee of the Swiss Asian Chamber of Commerce will be attending next week’s CHOGM Business Forum in Colombo.