The sixth annual world Rubber Conference, of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, is held in Colombo and the first to be held in Sri Lanka. The conference will be held till October 13 at Galadari Hotel in Colombo. The conference started under the patronage of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.
The Conference was organised by Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries(ANRPC) in collaboration with the Plantation Industries Ministry. According to Plantation Industries Ministry, the objectives of the conference were to improve productivity, reduce cost of production, promote value added rubber products, and generate additional revenue sources related to the rubber sector, encourage economic friendly natural rubber products and enhance the sustainability of the natural rubber industry.
Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries Earl Gunasekara, Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries Sudharma Karunaratne and Secretary General of ANRPC Dr. Kamarul Baharain bin Basir also participated at the inauguration ceremony.
More than 119 representatives attend the conference from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The ANRPC, an inter-governmental organisation established in 1970, comprises of 11 countries account for about 92 per cent of the global production of natural rubber.