'Buy Sri Lankan' campaign launched
Rohan Mathes
COLOMBO: The Maubima Lanka Foundation launched its "Ganna Ape De"
(buy Sri Lankan) campaign at the Galle Face Hotel yesterday amid a large
gathering of indigenous business magnates and other distinguished guests
in the business fraternity.
"The Ganna Ape De" campaign will be wholly focused on creating
awareness among the local people to consume exclusively locally
manufactured goods and services and thereby save valuable foreign
exchange.
It will be a Private-Public partnership venture comprising a
collective of local business leaders in collaboration with the Strategic
Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA) and the Industrial Development
Ministry.
Having fulfilled an established set of accreditation standards for
products and services, to qualify for the "Ganna Ape De" logo, the said
brands will need to match those standards and then pass inspection by an
expert committee, prior to being authorised the right to use the logo.
The expert committee will comprise of a productivity expert from the
Industrial Development Ministry, an independent overseas industrial
expert and a senior academic experienced in accreditation.
SEMA Chairman Willy Gamage speaking at the launch said that the logo
incorporating the 'Sinha' mark should not be humiliated under any
circumstances. It would be strictly a quality control exercise as per
prescribed specifications. "It would receive the fullest cooperation and
the blessings from the Government as envisioned in the 'Mahinda
Chintanaya'.
DSI Managing Director Kulatunga Rajapaksa pointed out that our
indigenous industrialists competing under fierce competition are the
life-blood of our economy and therefore they should be protected.
Under the present FTAs, Indian goods, especially soft products such
as TV advertisements, have already flooded the Sri Lankan market, and
around 2009, this situation will aggravate further with other trade
agreements such as the CEPA coming into force.
Therefore he said, that our local entrepreneurs could be protected by
inculcating this noble concept of purchasing our own locally
manufactured products and services.
"We should strive to drive this message at a tender age to the
children via the school curricula and the population at large from the
grassroots level. We have a bounden duty and an obligation to buy our
own goods and services for the betterment of our nation," he said.
Master Divers and Pelwatte Sugar Corporation Managing Director
Ariyaseela Wckramanayake, Triad Advertising Director Dinith Jayaweera,
Cargills Managing Director Ranjith Page, Industrial Ministry Secretary
W.Guruge and Dr. Vasantha Bandara and others also spoke.
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