Yearly Archives: 2009

Travel Fair “Ukraine 2009″ in Kiev
06 – 08 October, 2009
The Embassy of Sri Lanka for the first time organized the participation of 9 Sri Lankan Travel Company at the “UKRAINE’2009” Travel Fair from 06th till 08th of October, 2009 to promote Sri Lanka as a tourist destination. H.E. the Ambassador Udayanga Weeratunga took part the event and wished to improve business and find a new partners on the rapidly growing Ukrainian travel market for all participants: Tangerine Tours, Jetwing Travels, Exotic vacations, Aitken Spence Travels, Maldiviana, Exotic Global Holidays, Concord Exotic Voyages, Walkers Tours, Ceylon Tours.
Companies from more than 50 countries such as Austria, Argentina, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Vietnam, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Egypt, Israel, India, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Jordan, Canada, China, Cyprus, Malaysia, UAE, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Chile, Switzerland, Seychelles, Mauritius, Macedonia, RSA and Japan exhibited in the UKRAINE’2009 Travel Fair.
Wish to mention that 75% of the total Ukrainian market belongs to the outbound tourism. In figures it is about 16 million of people traveled abroad. There are about 4500 travel companies in the Ukraine, which has their branch representative offices in regions as well. Excursion itineraries are in a great demand and the most important fact was that Ukrainian tourists preferred to combine beach and country round tour. That’s why Sri Lanka has a great potency to promote tourism in Ukraine.
According to the statistic the Ukrainian tourist arrivals had an 81.7% increase in 2008. The first 7 months 2009 brought for 67.4% more tourists from Ukraine and the growth are in progress now.

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Food & Beverage Exhibition “World Food 2009″ in Expocenter
15 – 18 September, 2009
On Tuesday, 15 September, World Food Moscow 2009, the 18th International Exhibition and Conference for Food & Drink Products, took place in Expocentre. The Tea Promotion Unit (TPU) of the Embassy participated for the first time at Worldfood 2009 in Moscow, the largest international food & beverage exhibition in Russia and Eastern Europe, together with three leading tea exporters: Unitrades Ltd, Tea Com (Pvt) Ltd, and Ceylon Tea Land (Pvt) Ltd.
H.E. the Ambassador Mr. Udayanga Weeratunge graced the occasion at the opening ceremony and Sri Lankan exporters and their representatives in Moscow were also presented.
The exhibition began with sunny weather, a bravura march and new forecasts for the future. This annual event was organized by ITE Group Plc. United Kingdom, and ITE LLC. Moscow and assisted by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, State Duma of the Russian Federation and Government and Core Industrial Associations. All leading tea importers and distributors in Russia, regions of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, and Belarus were invited by TPU and wide publicity was given by the organizers to the fair. The participants displayed their range of products and had attractive stands.
Promotional brochures in Russian and in English and promotional tea sachets were distributed to the visitors during the fair. Each day of the fair, branded teas of the participating companies were utilized for the liquid tea service. An information desk providing information on product and other relevant information on the Sri Lankan tea industry was maintained at the stall. This desk was well made use of by interested visitors to the stall.
World Food Moscow is Russia’s premier international food and drink industry exhibition and conference. 2009 will be the 18th edition of the event. Russia is widely respected as one of the fastest growing retail food sales markets in the world and forecasts continue to predict substantial growth for branded and imported goods. World Food Moscow hosts a huge amount of international and domestic food and drink producers. They are all eager to promote their latest products and services to the food retail sector, caterers, chefs, wholesalers and distributors.
Many trade inquiries were made and a number of orders are presently under negotiation. The participation by the Sri Lanka Tea Board and the private sector companies was successful.

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Participation at the Aviation Salon MAKS 2009 in Zhukovsky
19 August, 2009
This was one of the leading Aviation Exhibition in the world aviation calendar MAKS. It had large fleet of aircraft, helicopters and UAV models for display including world leading cargo transporter AN 124 (RUSLAN). Sri Lanka Ambassador Udayanga Weeratunga and Defense Attaché Air Commodore Upali Chandratillake were among invitees as special guest at the exhibition and had opportunity to inspect the latest model of the ANTONOV regional Jetliner AN 148-100 series aircraft with its most experienced test pilots.
This is special occasion as this Aircraft meets most of the conditions applicable to Sri Lankan requirements. Picture shows the Ambassador in cockpit having conversation with its test pilot.AN 148-100 represents the new generation aircraft produced in 2007 by the world famous “ANTONOV” Aircraft Manufacturers in Ukraine & in Russia. Illyushin Finance Company has proudly introduced this latest model of regional jetliner to the Government of Sri Lanka for its consideration. Sri Lanka Air Force has been operating AN 32B aircraft fleet since 1996 with its optimum capability and this AN 148-100 model seems to be another suitable aircraft for the Sri Lankan purpose.
Sri Lanka Air Force student pilots & Engineering trainees attached to Russian Federation Academies had lifetime opportunity to witness sophisticated maneuvers of world leading fighter aircraft formation displays.

The Aviation Salon has by right earned a great reputation among both Russian and foreign specialists. It became top-ranked ground for business intercourse and for concluding mutually beneficial contracts. Each time thousands of people gather in Zhukovskiy to see unique aircrafts and rocketry, take a view of unequalled skill of aerobatic teams and feel the great atmosphere of the aviation festival. Each time MAKS becomes more and more prestigious among world experts and specialists and practically all world leaders in aerospace industry take part in the event.

Due to participation of leading international and Russian aviation manufacturers that present their recent developments and engineering achievements, the Aviation salon is ranked high by specialists and can by right be named among world’s most famous aviation. Business communication among scientists, engineers, technologists, managers and other specialists during MAKS 2009 will encourage a more efficient dialog between the government and business structures in the current economic climate. The organizers and sponsors of the event take great efforts to make exhibition conditions for participants more comfortable and also to provide best service for common visitors.

MAKS is held under the auspices of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, being traditionally opened by the President of the Russian Federation.

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