Gem and jewellery industry to be expanded

Suraj A Bandara

"Sri Lanka is looking forward to expand the gem and jewellery industry into a billion dollar revenue earner with an income of $15 billion by 2015," Sri Lanka Export Development Board chairman Janaka Rathnayake said.

He was addressing a function held to brief the media on Sri Lanka's only international gem and jewellery exhibition, FACETS Sri Lanka 2011 at Galadari yesterday. The international Gem and Jewellery Exhibition 'FACETS Sri Lanka 2011' will be held from September 8 to 11 at the Sirimawo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition centre for the 21st consecutive year.

FACETS Sri Lanka 2011, was organized by the Sri Lanka gem and jewelery Association (SLGJA), with the objective of showcasing Sri Lanka's Gem and Jewellery products to the global market. Rathnayake further said that it was true that the Gem and Jewellery Industry had declined during the previous years, but had fully recovered by 2010 and had been one of profitable industries in the country, with a promising future with a tremendous growth in their coming years.

SLGJA Chairman Macky Hasim, said that participants from around the world would feature at the exhibition and would provide a tremendous opportunity to the local trading community to expose the local products to international markets.

FACETS Sri Lanka Chairman Chanaka Ellawala said Sri Lanka, one of the rapidly emerging economies in the worlds would expand trade ties with South Asian countries, particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh through FACETS. The National Gem and Jewellery Authority is the principal sponsor and the Sri Lanka Export Development Board is the sponsor of the show.