The Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA), the senior most automotive association in Sri Lanka, recently hosted the CMTA Stakeholder Breakfast Forum at the Movenpick Hotel on the 26th of October. The event was attended by a host of representatives from Ministries, Government Institutions, NGOs, and a host of other stakeholder organisations related to Sri Lanka’s Motor Industry. His Excellency, Mr. Gopal Bagley, The High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka attended the event as the Guest Speaker.
The forum consisted of two addresses by His Excellency Mr. Gopal Bagley, High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, who spoke about the relationship between India and Sri Lanka, possibilities of developing the local motor industry in partnership with India and the feasibility of establishing Indian vehicle component manufacturing plants in Sri Lanka. Upon sharing his thoughts, His Excellency commented, “The success story of the Automobile Industry in India is not only the product range that is available to the customer, but also the component manufacturing industry which supplies spare parts and accessories to the global brands. Setting up manufacturing units for spare parts for automobile accessories can also solve the problems in the long term, as it will be another source of export revenue for Sri Lanka. Therefore, I would like to work on the idea of inviting an industry delegation to look at the prospects of setting up such operations”
The second address at the forum was conducted by Mr. Charaka Perera, the Chairman of the Ceylon Motor Traders Association, who explained the local market potential for vehicles in comparison with other countries and also emphasized the need to strongly regulate the automotive industry of Sri Lanka, to protect the consumer, the environment and to optimize the government revenue by means of import duty and corporate taxes. Mr. Perera went on to comment, “My personal belief is that Sri Lanka has the potential to develop a vibrant Component manufacturing industry, by making use of its geo-position and the strong bilateral relationships we have with several countries. We look forward to the support and guidance of India to develop and strengthen to automotive industry in Sri Lanka and leverage the industry to bring economic growth to our country”
After the two speakers completed their respective addresses, a Q&A Session was conducted with the audience which comprised of officials from numerous stakeholders of the local motor industry. The objective of the session was to the engage the stakeholders and heads of the local motor industry to establish a framework for the betterment of the industry as a whole.
One of the key discussion points of the Q&A Session was the need of proper regulation and governance of the importation of vehicles, as it would greatly benefit the country in terms of the consumer, the environment, the Treasury, and all of the stakeholders on the local motor industry.
