Pettah market merchants to vie for global trade

After more than a century of merchandising and deal-making, traders in Sri Lanka’s retail and wholesale ‘Pettah Market’ hub are vying for a bigger domain as they prepare to ink many Chamber to Chamber MoUs-and also venture into global trade.

“Once we link with the Chamber by affiliation, next we will go to international affiliations” revealed the President of Colombo Business Association (CBA) Dr. D. Venkateshwara on 10 August in Pettah

CBA President Dr. Venkateshwara was speaking after the launch of Pettah Fiesta 2019 in Colombo on 10 August, joined by the Minister of Industry, Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons, Cooperative Development, Skills Development & Vocational Training Rishad Bathiudeen and his Ministry Secretary KDN Ranjith Ashoka, CBA Chief Secretary Chaminda Vidanagamage, and State Minister of Industry, Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons, Cooperative Development, Skills Development & Vocational Training Buddhika Pathirana.

Minister Rishad Bathiudeen (second from right) receives a CBA souvenir from CBA Chief Secretary Chaminda Vidanagamage (far left) as the President of CBA, Dr. D. Venkateshwara (second from left) and State Minister Buddhika Pathirana (far right) look on at the launch of Pettah Fiesta on 10 August.

Many think that Pettah trade to be just pavement hawkers and peddlers, which is far from its real strength. We, the Colombo Business Association (CBA) are a 55,000 member strong trade focal point centred around Pettah and Colombo Fort markets. We are the largest Chamber of retail businesses in Sri Lanka and we also have wholesale trade members. The membership of CBA constitutes 23 business and trade associations around the country and packs 55000 retail and wholesale businesses of all scales-from large to micro, most of them operating in Pettah and Colombo while many are also from other parts of the country such as Kurunegala, Kandy and Northern Province. Some of our members, despite known for dealing in retail, are also into import and export trade” said the President CBA Dr. D. Venkateshwara.

He added: “As we expand and grow, our members call for a bigger role, recognition. The Pettah Fiesta 2019 we launch today is the first such special trade exhibition and carnival in the heart of Sri Lanka’s premier business hub in recent times and the first such trade fiesta in the 30 year history of CBA. This is to promote the contribution of our members to the consumers and to revive their trade. Also as we have now grown to become a national level Chamber, and very soon CBA will be linking with the Chamber of Commerce though an MoU-negotiations have already begun in this regard. As a result, CBA will be an affiliated Chamber to it in a few weeks’ time. Once we link with the Chamber by affiliation, next we will go to international affiliation. We will be inking a pact with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) also for which talks are continuing at present. We expect to sign MoUs with them before this Christmas. Once we link with ICC, we will send our delegation to overseas and international retail delegations can also visit us in turn. These exchanges could transform our Pettah retail hub to an international business hub and elevate our membership’s profile. These exchanges will not be restricted to FMCG segments but will expand to medical tourism, wellness/Ayurvedic tourism, agro sector, and infrastructure development. We are not limiting ourselves to these Chambers only but are also directly and in parallel negotiating with foreign chambers even at this moment. The overseas chambers we are talking to are the Turkish Chamber, and Chambers of Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. As soon as we conclude talks with them we will sign the MoUs at any moment. We are not able to do so right now simply due to this festival’s activities and the coming Christmas festival’s activities. But these MoUs are coming.”

The Minister of Industry, Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons, Cooperative Development, Skills Development & Vocational Training Rishad Bathiudeen said that the government is keen to empower small businesses in Colombo to overcome effects of recent bomb blasts. “I commend CBA for organizing this two-day trade fair to support the wholesale and retail trade of the area, which was badly affected by the Easter Sunday bomb attacks. Businesses belonging to all ethnicities were affected and our government is keen to see that they are revived- this effort showcases businesses and stalls of all traders -belonging to Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims and others-and we are promoting a united Sri Lankan business revival effort here.”