Lanka Centre in Shanghai wins prestigious award

The Sri Lanka Centre, which was set up in Shanghai in 2008, recently won the award for the Best Design among 2,200 stores and centres at the Shanghai Mart, a prestigious high rise building in China's main commercial hub.

Online voting by the public made the selection. The Sri Lanka Centre was set up as part of a greater strategy of the Board of Investment (BOI), to attract investments from China, one of the fastest growing economies in Asia.

The Centre is in the Shanghai Mart, a prestigious property built is owned by the Shin Kwan Group, a leading Singapore based conglomerate headed and owned by S.P Tao, the construction magnate who built and owns Colombo's World trade Centre and the Havelock City.

The Sri Lanka Centre was designed by Anuja Madhushanka, a Sri Lankan who graduated from the prestigious Beijing Film Academy, the Alma Mater of many of China's leading film directors such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

The Centre has played an important role in promoting investment at the source by showcasing many of the products and services available in Sri Lanka. Hence Chinese investors have a very clear idea of Sri Lanka's potential for manufacturing high quality products of international standard.

Deputy Director General of the BOI, A.M.C Kulasekera said, "It is proof of the strong bonds that exist between the governments and the people's of Sri Lanka and China. It also augurs well for the future, as the growth of the Chinese economy, despite the current downturn, is now a permanent factor in the global economic scenario. Sri Lanka's economic future will be determined by the extent to which she succeeds in strengthening her ties with leading Asian economies such as China's".

The Sri Lanka Centre features a wide range of products made in Sri Lanka including manufactured and value added goods such as tea, beauty care products, food products, apparel, ceramics and gems and jewellery. The Centre has a wide selection of literature on investment and industries in the Chinese language and in English.

Among the companies represented and Sri Lankan brand names are Nature's Beauty, Mackwoods, Dilmah, Stassens International, Essuwaran Brothers and Ceylon Biscuits (Munchee). High fashion apparel manufacturers Brandix and Omega Line were also represented.