Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament honours Nestlé

Chamal Rajapksa, Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, awarded Nestlé a medal of appreciation for the company’s contribution to the economic and social development of Sri Lanka - in alignment with ‘ Mahinda Chinthana ’, the manifesto of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“Nestlé Lanka is a sincere steward of corporate social responsibility in Sri Lanka, and a worthy ‘Best Corporate Citizen’ of the country. Their commitment to create sustainable value for society is clearly seen in their effort to enhance the scope of dairy development in the country, their development of local agricultural industries through increased local sourcing of raw materials, and their efforts to promote environmental conservation and reduce their own environmental footprint in the course of their operations,” Chamal Rajapaksa said.

The presentation was made to Nandkishore, Executive Vice President of Nestlé S.A. worldwide along with Nestlé Lanka’s senior management at a meeting at the Speaker’s residence last week. Also present at the meeting were Anura P. Yapa, Minister of Environment; Nimal Siripala, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resource Management; Jagath Pushpakumara, Minister of Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development; C.B. Ratnayake, Minister of Private Transport; Shameendra Rajapaksa, Private Secretary to the Minister of Finance; and Inspector General of Police, N.K. Illangakoon.

Nandu Nandkishore is a member of Nestlé’s global executive board. He is also the new Head of Nestlé in Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Middle East.

Nandkishore visited Sri Lanka last week to inaugurate Nestlé’s third milestone in its Rs 10 billion investment commitment to the country with Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development, and to reconfirm Nestlé’s commitment to the development of the country. The ‘Good Food, Good Life’ company’s third investment milestone was marked by the inauguration of its new UHT milk plant at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Kurunegala.

“Investments have to be good for the company as well as for the country. Creating long-term value for the countries where we operate also creates long-term value for our shareholders. By taking a long-term view of business development and managing it responsibly, we are able to stimulate significant local social, environmental and economic development. Nestlé is extremely honoured to receive this token of appreciation from the Sri Lankan government.

We will continue to ‘Create Shared Value’ for our local communities in all that we do,” Nandkishore said.

Nestlé Lanka is the largest exporter of coconut milk powder in the world and Sri Lanka’s largest collector of fresh milk in the private sector. The company purchases over 50 million Sri Lankan coconuts a year and procures milk from over 15,000 local farmers every day across the island.