FACETS 2011 to facilitate Sri Lanka’s lustre in new markets

Monday, 4 July 2011 00:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

Sri Lanka’s first and only international gem and jewellery show FACETS Sri Lanka 2011 announced that the annual event will be held from 8 to 11 September for the 21st consecutive year at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Centre in Colombo.

Organised by the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association (SLGJA), it has targeted over 7,500 visitors and close to 150 exhibitors for this year’s show out of which 1,000 are expected to be foreign visitors with 20 foreign exhibitors. Thirteen exhibitors from India, Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong have already registered for the show.

With the country’s main markets, Europe and the US still recovering from the economic recession, FACETS organisers predict a strong presence of buyers from countries like China, Russia and India and are actively promoting trade in these countries, with the industry in Sri Lanka now showing clear signs of strong growth after the slump due to the economic recession.

“We are proud to be associated with this event and this is a vital sector in order to reach our export target of $ 15 billion by 2015 and we aim to build up this industry into a billion dollar export revenue earner in the near future and with the current financial year showing an increase of 22% after the drop in 2009 due to the recession and with strong growth in the past four months this year, it looks very promising,” said Export Development Board (EDB) Chairman Janaka Ratnayake at the launch.

He asserted that the EDB has taken many steps to support the industry and assured that the same support will be extended in the future as well.

FACETS Sri Lanka Chairman Chanaka Ellawala added that as an emerging economy, Sri Lanka is looking forward to expanding its trade ties with the South Asian region particularly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for which the exhibition would prove to be the ideal platform.

He went on to say that FACETS provides the stakeholders of the gem and jewellery industry in neighbouring countries to view and buy the country’s products and is a huge opportunity to develop trade with Sri Lanka’s neighbours.

“This has been organised following other international exhibitions in the region which will facilitate participants from around the world. The exhibition will provide ample opportunities to the local trading community to expose their products to international markets,” said the SLGJA Chairman Macky Hashim. The SLGJA is now trying to promote the show in BRIC countries as well.

Since its commencement in 1991, FACETS has made a significant contribution to the development of the local gem and jewellery industry by putting Sri Lanka on the international trade map as a main producing and sourcing country and the exhibition has also been instrumental in opening up new markets such as China and Russia for Sri Lanka.