FACETS gem and jewellery exhibition in 2007

by Elmo Leonard

Sri Lanka's 17th annual international FACETS gem and jewellery exhibition will take place from August 30 to September 2, 2007, the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association (SLGJA) confirmed last week. It will be held for the third year at the BMICH Exhibition Centre.

SLGJA, known up to three years ago as Sri Lanka Gem Traders' Association (SLGTA) now counts 360 members.

The National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA) now considers SLGJA as the apex body, representing gems and jewellery in the country. At the outset of FACETS, 16 years ago, SLGTA constituted around 100 members, being the elite of the trade.

The SLGJA membership comprises gem miners, lapidarists, traders in gems and manufacturers of studded jewellery and exporters. SLGJA is now on a membership drive, attempting to lure all sectors of the industry, even the humble gem miner has projections of counting a membership of 1000 by end-2007, from all parts of the country, as the gem industry concentrates in Ratnapura, Beruwala, and a hub of jewellery manufacture in Galle. To achieve this objective, SLGJA will conduct seminars in all gem and jewellery trading towns in the country.

Another measure of SLGJA's commitment to bring in the rank and file of the industry into its membership was that the best lapidarists were afforded awards and cash prizes at the concluded FACETS show, SLGJA treasurer, Akram Mansoor said.

Whetted by the success of 837 local buyers purchasing gems at the concluded FACETS show of September this year, as against another record of 400 foreign buyers who made their pick, the SLGJA has now turned its attention inwards, and has projections of meeting and promoting the FACETS show in all jewellery manufacturing parts of the country.

Meanwhile, it is understood that the NGJA promoted Sri Lanka stall at the Malaysian Gem and Jewellery Show of October, fell short of being a resounding success.

FACETS begins its overseas projections in November, when NGJA will facilitate a Sri Lankan pavilion at the China International Gold Jewellery and Gem Fair, in Shanghai, China from November 1-5. SLGJA nominees, Akram Mansoor and M S M Fozli will promote the show, with the aid of a Chinese translator and all promotional material in the Chinese language, Mansoor said.

SLGJA has hired the services of David Hills 54, a former country manager of SriLankan Airlines in Pakistan, as its chief administrative officer.