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| Sunday, 9 June 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Success for Lankan participants at Maldives fair by Shirajiv Sirimane A record crowd of over 10,000, including the elite business community in Maldives, visited the Hotel and Trade Exhibition which was held last month in Male. The event, where about 22 Sri Lankan companies displayed their products along with one Indian and 35 Maldivian companies, was conducted by the Maldivian National Chamber of Commerce and was organised by Artline, the biggest sign board manufacturer in Maldives and Sign Tech Advertising from Sri Lanka. The Sunday Observer and Daily News were the official newspapers. Former President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and President of the Maldivian National Chamber of Commerce G. Ibrahim said that exhibitions of this nature are somewhat new to Maldives. "The trade fair concept is very popular in Europe. The people in Male are also beginning to understand the value of these events and more and more inquiries are being forwarded to us," he said. He said that the hostile political climate in the South Asian region is hampering development in the region. "It is the politicians that want war. But in Sri Lanka, politicians have taken the right step forward to go for peace talks." He said some people believe that the Maldivian travel trade does not welcome the peace process in Sri Lanka. "When there is peace in Sri Lanka, Maldives would be in a better position to market itself as a 'two stop destination'," he said. He said that both the September 11 attack on the US World Trade Centre and the Katunayake Airport attack had a negative impact on the Maldivian tourism sector. Chairman Sign Tech, Hassan Fazal said this exhibition has brought investment opportunities worth four million US dollars to Sri Lankan businesses. "A leading resort chain ordered spa equipment for three million US dollars while many others found business partners to launch their products in Maldives." He said the success of this event has inspired them to make it an annual event in the Maldivian business calender. Artline, which is in charge of advertising of the Male Airport and the National Stadium, and the publisher of the Hotel Directory and Yellow Pages, is also planning to conduct an event management seminar with Sri Lankan participation soon. Sixteen Sri Lankan companies and five local companies which operate branch offices in the islands, took part in this event, which was sponsored by Hong Kong Bank, SriLankan Airlines, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., Toshiba Copiers, Clipsal, Focus Computers, Logistic Maldives and Mooki Hotel. |
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