Major export promotion initiative launched in Polonnaruwa

An initiative directed towards the establishment of an export promotion village provides the best means of enhancing incomes at the grass roots level and strengthening the economy of the Polonnaruwa district, Minister of Export Development and International Trade Professor G.L. Peiris, said in Polonnaruwa last week.

He was addressing a meeting of the District Development Council held at the Divisional Secretary's Office in Polonnaruwa presided by Minister of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Maithripala Sirisena.

Deputy Minister of Agrarian Services Siripala Gamlath, Secretary to the Ministry of Export Development and International Trade S. Ranugge, Government Agent of Polonnaruwa Nimal Abeysiri, Anil Koswatte, Chairman of the Export Development Board, Sujatha Weerakoone, Director-General of the Board and five Divisional Secretaries of the Polonnaruwa region were among those participating in the discussion.

It was unanimously decided that the thrust of the export promotion initiative should be in the field of aquarium fish, for which the water and climatic conditions in the Polonnaruwa area are particularly well suited.

Prof. Peiris said that a start had already been made in supporting this lucrative activity in the Polonnaruwa district. While there is increasing interest in taking to aquarium fish breeding for export, an urgent need exists to improve quality, and towards this end support by way of provision of equipment and modern expertise is required.

Minister Peiris said 50 farmers had been provided with Rs. 50,000 each. Twenty five of them were supported by funds directly made available by the Export Development Board and the other 25 received assistance from development funds given by the Government of the Netherlands through the National Chamber of Commerce.

This nucleus is to be expanded, Prof. Peiris observed, utilising the allocation of funds placed at the disposal of the Export Development Board by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Budget for 2009. The country is to be divided into 8 zones and 25 export development villages are to be established. The Polonnaruwa project will be one of these, he said.

Minister Maithripala Sirisena said that export oriented industry has assumed a heightened significance in the context of Sri Lanka's economy as a lever for mitigating the adverse consequences of the global economic meltdown.