Reception to mark participation at PRODEXPO 2013
13th February 2013
His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga hosted a reception on 13 February 2013 at the Chancery, to welcome Sri Lanka’s participants in the PRODEXPO 2013 trade exhibition. The event was attended by 65 distinguished guests both from the tea industry of Russia and Sri Lanka. Addressing the guests, H.E. the Ambassador highlighted the Ceylon tea industry’s 33% market share in Russia, over rivals India (23%), Kenya (12%) and China (10%).
In 2012, while Russia is the largest importer of Ceylon tea (15% of total exports), Empire Teas (Pvt) Ltd was the largest exporter with over 7 million kgs, closely followed by the Akbar Brothers group. However, out of total tea exports to the world, Akbar Brothers is the largest exporter from Sri Lanka with over 40 million kgs. The Ambassador encouraged the Sri Lankan exporters to increase the exports of value added teas. In 2012 imports of pre-packed tea were 21% of the Sri Lankan share. He highlighted that with Russia’s entry into the WTO, the currently tariff rate for pre-packed tea (20%) will be gradually reduced up to 12.5% within the 4 year period.
Moving on to the tourism sector in Sri Lanka, Ambassador highlighted that tourism infrastructure development has progressed well. International 5-star hotel chains such as Shangri-la and Marriot along with the Hilton, the Meridian and Taj Hotels are already being well established. Many smaller hotels are also prospering due to the support provided by the Government.
Speaking about Russia and CIS countries, H.E. the Ambassador explained that Tourist arrivals from Russia rose to 28,402 in 2012 which is a significant increase over 2011 and 2010. From Ukraine, some 22,348 tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2012. The national carrier SriLankan Airlines started operations on the Moscow-Colombo route in September 2011 and up to date, has carried 17,125 passengers. He encouraged travel to Sri Lanka as a destination offering the advantage of 49 unique attraction sites, 91 rare attractions, 7 world heritage sites and 6 of the world’s ancient monuments, as cited by the World Tourism Organization.
Following the sumptuous buffet dinner, H.E. the Ambassador invited his guests to partake of freshly brewed Ceylon Tea.
