Island Links

Oct 23, 2012 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's state-run Bank of Ceylon the country's largest lender by assets said it is mulling a branch in the Indian Ocean island of Seychelles as efforts are made to boost economic relations. Sri Lanka’s fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne is expected to lead a delegation to Seychelles shortly for talks on fisheries, business development and education, the bank said.

Bank of Ceylon chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe had met President James Michel last week.

"We are here to see how we could help Seychelles, firstly in the fisheries sector and secondly in tourism," Wickramasinghe was quoted as saying.

"We will be doing a feasibility study and assess the business potential Seychelles can have with Sri Lanka."

Wickramasinghe had visited Seychelles on an invitation made by President Michel when he visited Sri Lanka in August. At the time Sri Lanka had said it would give a credit line to Seychelles to boost trade in areas including boat building.

During President Michel’s August visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka's government announced it would extend a credit line to Seychelles to use in trade and commercial transactions with Sri Lanka, particularly in boatbuilding ventures.