State Minister of International Trade, Sujeewa Senasinghe attended the 34th Anuga International 2017, world’s largest exhibition for Food and Beverages, which was held in Cologne, Germany from 7th to 11th October 2017. 7400 companies from 107 nations exhibited their products to 165,000 trade visitors from 198 Nations.
Exports Development Board and Sri Lanka Tea Board organized the Sri Lanka Pavilion at the ‘Fine food’ and ‘hot beverages’ sections, enabling leading Sri Lankan exporters to showcase their products. 52 Sri Lankan exhibitors participated in this trade fair.
On the sidelines of Anuga, the State Minister attended a series of high level meetings to enhance and strengthen bilateral economic cooperation between Seri Lanka and Germany. In this regard he met his counterpart Prof.Andreas Pinkwart, State Minister of Economy, North Rhine Westphalia, Dusseldorf with whom he discussed options for German vehicle manufacturers to bring electronic car development to Sri Lanka.
The State Minister also had a meeting with Dr. Julia Hoffmann, Director, Import Promotion Desk of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy, a German Government funded organisation which supports exporters from Developing Nations like Sri Lanka to export their products to Germany and the EU. Further, he had a Meeting with the Senior officials of DEG in Cologne, Mr. Turan Caglayan, Senior Director, Corporate & Funds for Asia and Europe, DEG, Cologne and Ms. Maria Spölgen, Vice President-Financial Institutions /Europe & Asia. DEG is a Development Support bank, which provides long term loans to the private sector in developing nations. During the meeting the Minister was informed that DEG is planning to expand their presence in Sri Lanka.
The State Minister was accompanied by the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Germany, Eng. Karunasena Hettirachchi Director General of the Export Development Board, Mrs. Jeevani Siriwardena and Minister (Commercial), at the Consulate General of Sri Lanka, in Frankfurt Mrs. Ameina Mohin.
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Berlin
19th October 2017
