NCE Export Awards ceremony on Dec 5

by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi

The fourteenth annual National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) Export awards ceremony will be held on December 5 at the BMICH.

This year Sri Lanka's premier awards for excellence in exports open to all exporters-both members and non-members of the chamber, creates a window for exporters of all sectors to compete in a truly national event.

The chamber received 138 entries this year.

The awards which are not only based on sectors, also includes the categories small, medium, large and extra large in addition to the Outstanding Gold Awards in each sector.

In addition the topmost awards include the Most Outstanding Exporter of the Year, Best Woman Exporter of the Year and the Sri Lankan Brand Exporter of the Year as well.

A number of new sub-sectors has been introduced in the general export category.

While a new sector to accommodate the current growth trends in the services outsourcing sector has been introduced the NCE has also considered the growing importance and the performance of the Export of Services to the country's export effort.

In the current year, awards have been focused on foreign exchange earnings related to Consultancy, Services out-sourcing, Call-Centres, Ship Repair, Employment Agencies, Telecommunication and Share-Trading.

The Organising Committee has also given due recognition to the vital need of Brand Marketing, Communication, Delivery speed and Connectivity in the challenging Globalised market environment by enhancing the Service Provider category with the introduction of sub sectors such as courier services, telecommunication, packaging, printing, trading and advertising.

The NCE initiated a program to recognise exporters in 1993, making it the oldest awards presented to the exporting fraternity of Sri Lanka.

The main sponsor of the NCE awards ceremony is Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd. and the media sponsors are Ceylon Daily News-ANCL-Channel-MTV 1, Sirasa TV, YES FM and MBC Radio - The principal sponsors and others are Bank of Ceylon, DHL, Keells, People's Bank, Sampath Bank, Sri Lanka Insurance, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Colombo Engineering Enterprises, Daya group, NDB Bank, Oxley Threads Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. and Seylan Bank.