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Minister of Plantation visits Moscow
3-8 July 2014
Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation of Sri Lanka undertook a visit to the Russian Federation from 3-8 July 2014 with an official delegation consists members form the Ministry of Plantation Industries, the Sri Lanka Tea Board and private sector member delegation. The main objectives of the visit were to meeting with the Russian government agents responsible for plantation Industry sector, visit and familiarization with the updates of the tea packing plants, large scale supermarkets and strengthening of the existing market ties.
Hon. Minister and the delegation arrived at the Domodedovo Airport and His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga; Ambassador of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation received the Hon Minster and the delegation at the Airport.
Hon. Samarasinghe met with the Hon. Volkov Andrei Valanthinavich Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Russia on the 4 July where Hon. Valanthinavich, welcomed the Sri Lankan delegation at the Ministry. He stated that Russia is the biggest importer of Sri Lankan tea and historically Ceylon tea is popular & consumers like Ceylon tea very much. He further said that the Ministry is positively evaluating Sri Lanka’s Corporation and they are ready to give necessary assistance to Sri Lanka to develop this corporation further.
He expressed that the Russian side is keen to enlarge mutually beneficial corporation in Agriculture and with the same aim, a visit of Deputy Minister of Agriculture (in relation to fisheries industry) visited Sri Lanka during the month of August 2013 and met with Hon. Basil Rajapaksa.
Hon. Minister Samarasinghe thanked Hon. Deputy Minister for giving the opportunity of meeting and extended the greetings of His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka to the His Excellency President of the Russian Federation through the Deputy Minister.
He appreciated the support extended by the Russian Federation during the difficult times of the Sri Lanka specially at Human rights councils etc. he stated that he privately know the support extended by the Russian Federation , as he lead theses delegation. He mentioned that the development of the war affected area is now 23 – 24% and the overall country development is 7%. He stated that the trade balance can be improved by buying more goods form the Russia. He further stated that all the points discussed at the meeting will be submitted as a report to the Cabinet of Ministers in Sri Lanka for further information and action.
Further, they continued to discuss on the supply of Mineral fertilizers to Sri Lanka and possibility of entering to a long-term agreement for supplying Russia origin wheat to Sri Lanka.
Hon. Minister met with Ilyas Umakhanov, Deputy Chairman, the Council of the Federation, the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly on the evening of 04 July.
His Excellency the Ambassador hosted the delegation to a Lunch on the 05 July where he explained the Minister and the Delegation about the cooperation Sri Lanka Embassy have with the Sri Lanka Tea Board and the successful events held by the Embassy joined with the Sri Lanka Tea Board. Hon Minister appreciated the Services rendered by the Embassy to prmote Sri Lanka in the fields of Trade, Tourism, Political and Education.

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Official Visit the Minister of Plantation Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe
10th October 2014

A meeting was held at the Minister of Agricultural in Russian Federation in Ministry of Agricultural on 10 October 2014 in honour of the visiting Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation Industries of Sri Lanka and delegation to Russian Federation. The major challenge confronting SriLanka tea industry today is to retain its preferred production targets and maintain the quality which issynonymous with “Ceylon Tea”. With regard to production targets, its share in the Russian market, percentagewise it has declined over the last 2 years to almost half of its originalshare. This has been due to aggressive competition from other tea producing countries and the very low rate o replanting and equally low productivity and the high production cost and the absence of an aggressive marketing cum promotional strategy of Ceylon Tea, said Hon. Minister Samarasinghe addressing the gathering at a meeting by Minister of Agricultural in Russia. He further said, “Our policy is to ensure that a major quantity of our teas find markets in value added form. We can certainly look at what kind of incentives should be provided to the industry for this purpose. The tea sector being a vital commercial sector, the country has a right to expect a substantial contribution from this sector to government revenue to augment urgent development needs of the country, especially when we as a nation are having insurmountable challenges in the immediate aftermath of a post war situation. The Sri Lanka Tea Board will work together with Russian Companies and buyers to ensure the good name of our teas. We have taken several steps to strengthen the relation between Sri Lanka Tea Board and Russian tea sellers. The Minister also said that tea was the drink of the 21st century and it certainly had a future, but Sri Lanka had to make it competitive global economy. Also his, informed that they had fruitful discussion about the strengthening of bilateral relations between the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Plantation Industries of Sri Lanka. Also agreed to continue of the development of trade and economic cooperation in agriculture sector.

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Sri Lanka – Russia Business Council Felicitates H.E. The Ambassador
27 June 2014
Sri Lanka – Russia Business council, which is affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, felicitated HE Udayanga Weeratunga, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation on the 27 June 2014 at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce auditorium amidst a gathering of distinguished personalities both from Russia and Sri Lanka. The felicitation was organized by the Sri Lanka-Russia Business Council to acknowledge and appreciate the yeoman service rendered by HE Udayanga Weeratunga in the recent years to promote trade, investment, tourism and services between Sri Lanka and Russian Federation and to promote mutual understanding and strengthen the relationships between Sri Lanka and the Russian Federation. It was the view of everyone present that HE Weeratunga’s unparalleled services whilst being at the helm of the Sri Lankan Embassy in the Russian Federation accrued many benefits to both the nations; especially in tourism and trade.
Welcoming the Ambassador the President of the Sri Lanka-Russia Business Council explained to the distinguished gathering in elaborate detail the exceptional work done by the Ambassador since 2006 to further the bonds of friendship between Peoples of both nations. He attributed the quantum leap in the arrival of Russian Tourists in Sri Lanka since 2007 to the sustained tourism promotional campaign carried out by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Russia. The significant increase in trade between the two nations since 2007 too he also stated was a direct result of the hard work done by the Ambassador.
HE Weeratunga addressing the distinguished gathering explained in detail the work already done by the Embassy and the future plans. He outlined the future programmes he intends executing to further increase the awareness amongst people of Russia on Sri Lanka. He thanked the President and the members of the Sri Lanka-Russia Business Council for organizing the felicitation ceremony.
Desamanya Deva Rodrigo a past Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and a Past President of the Sri Lanka Russia Business Council, presented a memento of appreciation to H.E. Ambassador Udayanga Weeratunga on behalf of the Council, in appreciation of the invaluable contribution made in promoting tea, tourism and other trade and fostering closer economic, political and cultural ties between Sri Lanka and Russian at the conclusion of the ceremony.

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