Top corporates come on board to stage WEDF 2016

„„By Shabiya Ali Ahlam Top local corporates and institutions have partnered with the Export Development Board (EDB) to support the upcoming World Export Development Forum 2016 (WEDF), an event that expected to provide a much required boost to the nation’s external sector. Coming on-board to stage the international event is DFCC Bank PLC, Exclusive Banking Partner, and Brandix Lanka, Exclusive Apparel Partner, as platinum sponsors.

Expo Lanka and Link Natural Products are named as Gold Sponsors while and Nestle Lanka and Dialog Axiata have partnered as Silver sponsors. The country’s national carrier SriLankan Airlines will be the official Airline Partner of the event, while EWIS Information Systems takes on the role of lT Partner of the 2-day conference.

The preferred print media partner for the event is Wijeya News Group. The WEDF, which will have its 16th edition this year, will be held in Colombo from 12th to 13th October. It will be held under the theme ’Trade for Success: Connect, Compete, Change’. The conference will cater to sectors such as Information and communication technologies (lCTs), Tourism, Specialty food: Tea and Spices, Processed food, Apparel, Rubber and Manufacturing.

The WEDF is a flagship event of the International Trade Centre (lTC), and is a highly anticipated event in the global export industry calendar. “We have reconfirmed the significance of this globally represented summit being hosted in Sri Lanka, and are greatly encouraged to see our local corporates and institutions backing us in our endeavour to make Sri Lanka’s presence felt at a global scale in the export industry,” said EDB Chairperson Indira Malwatte at the sponsorship awarding event that was graced by State Minister International Trade Sujeeva Senasinghe.

To capitalise on the event, the ITC and EDB will facilitate B2B meetings on 11 October 2016 enabling opportunities for companies around the world to meet potential business partners. Individual matchmaking meetings between high potential buyers and sellers will be arranged by the WEDF team to meet the addressed business needs for each company.