|
|
|
| Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Ten-year plan to drive tea industry The National Council for Economic Development comes under the direction of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The inaugural meeting of the Tea Cluster comprising 24 members was held at the Treasury Auditorium chaired by Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury and Chairman of the National Council for Economic Development (NCED). Dr. Jayasundera presenting the overview of the imporatnce of the Industry said that tea has been identified as a National Industry in the country, making a sizeble contribution to the national economy together with textiles, tourism and the foreign employment sectors. Although the apparel industry has made an impact from among the different model clusters, tea is still considered the key strategic industry as its net income is higher than the rest. In outlining the purpose and objectives of the cluster he called upon the Committee to draw up a 10-year-plan as to where the industry would like to pitch "Ceylon tea" in terms of production and exports. Members of the tea industry apprised Dr. Jayasundera of the current scenario locally and internationally emphasizing particularly the obstacles faced in terms of taxes, tariff and non tariffs barriers and more importantly the global excess supply over demand. The need to increase value addition through branding was also emphasized as it would enhance earnings. Dr. Jayasundera commended the cluster members for presenting many issues and proposals adding that a few more meetings would help towards arriving at the desired objectives. He said that as the cluster comprises experts from different sectors of the tea industry, it would be the ideal forum to draw up plans for the future rather than a few people drawing up a plan for donor funded agencies to assist which invariably comes up with prohibitive conditions. Executive Director, NCED, Rohantha Athukorala, was requested to co-ordinate with the tea cluster and arrange for future meetings. The newly appointed Tea Cluster is co-chaired by J. Abeywickrema, Secretary, Ministry of Plantation Industries, Dr. Rohan Fernando, Chairman, Planters Association of Ceylon and Niraj de Mel, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tea Board. The other members of the Cluster are Mahen Dayananda, Member CTTA and Deputy Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Y.G. Wijeratne, Addl. Sec (Dev) M/PI, Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, Chairman, TSHDA, H.D. Hemaratne, DG, SLTB, Dr. Ziyad Mohammed, Director, TRI, Tyaeb Akbarally, Chairman, CTTA, J.M.B.J. Bandara, Chairman, Federation of Small Holdings, Amara Dissanayake, Chairman, PTFOA, Lalith Obesekera, Member, Planters Assn., Romesh Morias, Member, CTTA, Jayantha Karunaratne, Member, TEA, Lalith Ramanayake, Member, CBA, G.D.V. Perera, Member, Planters Assn., Dr. Sarath Samaraweera, Member, PTFOA, Bandula Jayasekera, Chairman, Tea Cluster, Edward Welikala, Former Chairman, PTFOA, Ajit Goonetilleke, Chairman, TEA and TASL, Ajit Chitty, Chairman, CBA, H.P.T. Wijesuriya, Senior Economist, Agriculture, CBSL, A.R. Wickremaratne, Asst. Director, Dept. of National Planning. Some of the key issues the team will address in the 10-year-plan are sustaining the quality image of Ceylon Tea, assistance for factory modernisation, strengthening of laws to eradicate the illegal sale of tea and other malpractices, increasing the rate of re-planting and seeking redress for ESC and VAT and how to fund research required to keep Sri Lanka abreast with the global beverage industry changes. The team was also advised to develop some key budget proposals that could be included in the 2006 Budget. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
