Sri Lanka's Apex Organisation for Export Promotion
The 23rd Presidential Export Award Ceremony organized by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) will be held on Thursday 19th September 2019 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) under the patronage of His Excellency the President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s participation at Expo 2020 Dubai is set in a spectacular manner to ensure the strengthening of the country’s trade, tourism, and investments. The Sri Lanka Export Development Board plays a critical role, together with private and state organisations, to landmark Sri Lanka’s presence at this global event.
The government has allocated Rs. 580 million to promote Sri Lanka’s exports, tourism and investment opportunities at Expo 2020 Dubai, which is expected to draw over 25 million visitors.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) in association with the National Research Council (NRC) held an awareness session on the NRC’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Programme on 29th July, 2019, at the EDB Auditorium targeting the exporter community. The aim of the session was to educate exporters about the modalities of the PPP programme.
“This Act is truly visionary; I wish other countries had this in their export development framework!”, remarked a senior official of the Geneva-based International Trade Centre to me some months back. He was referring to the ‘Sri Lanka Export Development Act No. 40 of 1979’, which marks 40 years this month. He had found it to be an institutional arrangement that was far ahead of its time, and is still having relevance today – not just for Sri Lanka, but also for other developing countries. And he would know, having worked on export development strategies for over a dozen countries around the world.
2019-08-11/ http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2019/08/11/business/it%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98full-steam-ahead%E2%80%99-industry-boat-and-ship-model-testing-facility-be-set
The country’s boat-building industry has an ambitious target of doubling its export revenue to reach US $ 250 million by 2022.
To help Sri Lankan companies eyeing the daunting Indian market, the International Trade and Development Strategies Ministry yesterday launched a new report to assist breaking into India, with Minister Malik Samarawickrama undertaking a visit to India this week to help local businesses find success across the Palk Strait.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board [EDB] which turned 40 years on 1st August is the premier state organization for the development and promotion of exports. The Board plays myriad roles in the export sector of the economy, as a Policy Advisor, Monitor, Promoter, Facilitator and Knowledge Provider in carrying out its responsibilities of implementing strategies for achieving national export targets.
Despite global and local challenges, Sri Lanka’s merchandised and service exports have risen by 11.4% to $ 8.5 billion in the first half of this year, prompting the Government to attribute it to a series of development efforts and assure further support. Releasing the latest yet provisional data, Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama said yesterday that export sector performance was commendable, though he admitted there is significant scope for higher value. “The 11.4% growth, despite the impact of the October 2018 undemocratic constitutional coup, and the Easter Sunday tragedy, as well as global challenges, is very satisfactory. For the first time, three months of first half of 2019 - January, March and June - have produced over $ 1 billion worth of merchandised exports. We had originally set an ambitious $ 20 billion target for 2019, but we may miss it and end up at around $ 18.5 billion, which will be still higher than the $ 16 billion achieved last year,” Samarawickrama said.
A delegation led by Hon. Nalin Bandara, Deputy Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade comprising officials from both the public and private sector visited United Arab Emirates (UAE) and met several important trade partners in the UAE. The delegation had very fruitful discussions with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Sharjah Chamber of Commerce & Industry as well as Al-Maya Group and the Lulu Supermarket International.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) has been conducting the Exporters’ Forum since its inception from late 70s. The EDB has identified the need of a common platform to discuss and resolve the issues faced by the exporter community in Sri Lanka in order to facilitate exporters to overcome constraints arising from policy and operational issues created by various institutes that regulate, operate, and facilitate cross border trade. The EDB as the nation’s prime institute to facilitate export development created this mechanism to enable exporters to submit their issues to the highest levels of state institutions that cannot be reached easily by a trader. The unique feature of the Exporters’ Forum is the participation of the private sector and the public sector to resolve issues, with the political leadership represented by the relevant minister together with direct ministry-level interventions providing solutions to address those issues.
Sri Lanka is making a renewed attempt to leverage its geographic advantage in the East-West shipping route, this time as a boat builder and marine tourism destination under the National Export Strategy. The five-year plan formally launched in July 2018 identifies boat building and its related services as one of five key industries to expand Sri Lanka’s export basket and increase export earnings to $ 28 billion by 2022.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) is planning to hold the 23rd Presidential Export Awards Ceremony under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena on 19 September at the BMICH
The Expo 2020 Dubai is a global trade exposition showcasing strengths, capabilities and innovation of over 180 countries and set to host over 25 million visitors from across the globe. Set to be one of the largest events ever to be staged in the Arab world and the first of its kind across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, the World Expo is one of the longest standing and largest international events to take place in the world.
2019-05-22/ http://www.ft.lk/business/Messe-Duesseldorf-bullish-on-promoting-industrial-products-of-Sri-Lanka/34-678606
Reinforcing Germany’s support to Sri Lanka in need of the hour, world’s leading trade fair organiser Messe Duesseldorf GmbH announced plans to promote ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ as a quality brand and build the country’s industrial products in the international arena.
Transforming Sri Lanka into the hub of the Indian Ocean, with a knowledge-based, highly competitive and social-market economyis the objective of the Vision 2025 policy document of the Government.Making the transistion to anexport, FDI and tourism orientedcountry is the only optionfor Sri Lanka to create better jobs for the youth of our country and to graduate to a higher income economy.
As per the instructions of the Hon. Malik Samarawickrama, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Export Development Board organized a meeting with the key Exporters and Investors on Friday 03rd May 2019 at the 3rd Floor Auditorium to discuss the current situation of the country.
Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) together with the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) commenced a series of programmes comprising workshops, seminars, etc. to enhance the capacity of selected Government Officials focussing on improving exports through innovation, research and development.
The World Expo is one of the oldest and largest international events taking place every 5 years and lasting for 6 month where everyone can learn, innovate and create progress by sharing ideas and working together through a common theme. United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been selected as the host country for the forthcoming event to be held in year 2020. This World Expo will be held for a period of six months from 20th October 2020 to 10th April 2021 in Dubai under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. The World Expo in Dubai in 2020 will be the first to be held in the MENA & SA (Middle East and North Africa & South Asia Region.
The National Export Strategy (NES) is progressing in the right direction. It has six focused areas and is expected to provide the impetus for the export drive supporting economic growth, Chairperson of the Export Development Board (EDB), Indira Malwatte said.
