Mega trade investment and tourism initiative

by Sapumali GALAGODA

Sri Lanka Expo 2012, a mega trade investment and tourism promotion initiative will be held from March 28 -30, at the BMICH, under the theme “Partnering with the Hub of Asia.” It was launched last week in Colombo.

The exhibition will display a range of traditional export quality products under three sectors: Agriculture, Fisheries, Industrial products and Services.

“The total value of exports have increased from $ 7.1b in 2009 to $ 8.3b last year. The target is to achieve $ 15b by 2015 and $ 20b in 2020” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen.

He said “In the path of taking Sri Lanka towards being the “wonder of Asia” Sri Lanka will be developed into five hubs providing links between the East and West. They are: maritime hub, commercial hub, an energy hub, an aviation hub and a knowledge hub. Our challenge is to maintain eight to ten percent growth in the next five years, which will result in the doubling of the per capita income from the current level of $ 2,000 to $ 4000 by 2016.”

The main objective of this trade fair is to regain the recognition Sri Lanka enjoyed for decades as a lucrative business destination in Asia and to support the export community to forge reliable and lasting business relationships in key economic activities of Trade, Investment and Tourism.

A unique combination of an exhibition, a symposium, business meetings, industry visits, networking sessions and other corporate events are planned.

With over 300 Sri Lanka stalls covering the entire range of traditional and non traditional products and services will be showcased. The small and medium sector exporters will be facilitated with a special pavilion as will the chambers and other representative bodies of the business community.

Some of the products will be apparel, tea, rubber and rubber-based products, ICT/BPO/KPO.

The symposium with eminent international keynote speakers will focus on creating awareness on the vast range of business opportunities emerging with development trends. There will be over 1000 visitors from overseas.

The High level delegations were from countries including London, New York, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

Buyers are expected from strategic market regions such as the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, East Asia and the Pacific and the SAARC region.

With the dawn of peace Sri Lanka has embarked on a mega development drive, striving towards being the “Wonder of Asia”.