The Silver Jubilee of the Annual NCE Export Awards was conducted on September 29, at the Hilton Colombo.
Despite the barriers and challenges encountered by Sri Lankan exporters both locally and internationally, their resilience and hard work has enabled the export sector to make a vital contribution for the economic development of Sri Lanka, says Secretary General of the National Chamber of Exporters, Chamber Shiham Marikar.
“In this background the annual awards conducted by the Chamber has enabled to motivate Sri Lankan exporters and keep them together without deviating from exports to other alternatives. Over the years this event has achieved National Significance to become the most looked forward business event conducted professionally amidst much glitter and glamour.”
He added that he was fortunate to be a part of the Silver Jubilee of the Annual NCE Export Awards, which had been conducted for 25 years without interruption. “The event has had a very humble beginning commencing in 1993, to fill avoid which prevailed at that time since there was no official event to recognize and reward the achievements of Sri Lankan exporters in the international market place.”
The Secretary General states that the Silver Jubilee event had special significance, as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the Chief Guest, endorsing the priority given by the Government to exports for the Economic Development of the country to achieve National Economic Development targets that have already been set.
The Prime Minister in his address emphasized that Joint Ventures for Exports was the way forward for Lankan manufacturers.
“Ancient Ceylon has always been an export oriented nation and even Cinnamon grown up- country, had been exported from harbours in the South”.
“With a population of only 20mn, there are limitations for local manufacturers and the only way forward is to go global. If Sri Lanka did not export tea, rubber, coconut and apparel, the country would not enjoy the present lifestyle”.
Among the grey areas identified by the Prime Minister is the high cost of power. He also predicted that with wages and other expenses increasing some local manufacturers would move out of the country.
The President of the NCE Ramal Jasinghe, noted that overall exports of Sri Lanka has been stagnant, or have recorded an erratic and declining trend since 2010reaching USD 10.3 billion at the end of 2016. Further, exports as a percentage of the GDP currently stands at 12.7% having progressively declined from over 30% since 2000.
According to the Annual Report of the Central Bank for 2016, industrial production as a percentage of the GDP was just 26.8% out of which only 35.2% of the production was exported while the major portion was consumed domestically.
However, the latest figures show a welcome a positive turnaround achieving USD 6521.9mn (Rs 6.5Bn) for the first seven months of 2017 compared to USD 6013.1mn (RS.6 bn) for the comparative period in 2016, reflecting a growth rate of 8.4%.
The proposed removal of import duties and CESSES on certain items which compete with local produce, as well the proposed removal of CESS on raw material exports which hinders value addition locally, without giving sufficient time for local enterprises to adjust to the competition was also viewed with concern, along with the general increase of Corporate Taxes on export enterprises including the removal of exemptions hither to available to exports related to the IT sector and gems and Jewellery, were also seen to have negative impacts.
The requirement for enterprises to export at least 80% of production to be entitled to the lower taxation rate available for export oriented ventures was also seen to be counter productive, since it would discourage many SME entrepreneurs to develop as established exporters, since it requires their beginning with a smaller percentage of exports and developing thereafter progressively to become established exporters which has been the case for many big exporters.
The Chamber made use of the occasion to honour Eardley Perera who had made a vital contribution to the work of the Chamber initially including his services as the first Chairman of the Independent Panel of Judges who selected the award winners. He was presented with a plaque to record the appreciation of the Chamber.
The Secretary General records the gratitude and appreciation of the Chamber of all sponsors of the event who over the years contributed generously to develop it to the very high standard it enjoys today. The Chamber is particularly grateful to Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd., who has been the main sponsor from the inception underlining its commitment as a leading State Sector Corporate in Digital Services, by supporting Sri Lankan exporters with generous contributions over the years, for the Economic Development of Sri Lanka through exports. Similarly, other noteworthy ‘Service Providers to Exporters’ such as leading Banks have partnered with the Chamber over many years, recognizing encouragement of exports as a National Course.
The Chamber also appreciates the partnership and contribution made by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL), as the Print Media Sponsor throughout the years providing valuable pre-event and post event print media publicity to highlight the achievements and success stories of Sri Lankan exporters in the International market place, to enable them to win over new customers for the expansion of their export ventures.
The judging process itself has been very professional, comprising of an independent panel of Judges who are experts and professionals in their respective specialized fields related to exports.
This year the Chamber has taken additional step of utilizing the services of the Multi National Audit Firm - Earnst & Young, to facilitate the Panel of Judges and the Technical Committee by providing their professional through analysis of the information provided by applicants to enhance the credibility and transparency of the selection process.
The theme of this year's award related to the ‘Polonnaruwa era'. In this regard the backdrop and the intervening entertainment items, reminiscent of the glorious past of Sri Lanka were fascinating, and appreciated by many participants.
This year the Chamber introduced Special Regional Awards to recognize the valuable contribution made by Regional Enterprises, specially SME Entrepreneurs to overall exports of the country by being a part of the ‘Export Value Chains'.
This approach was in keeping with the concept that in addition to the volume and value of exports as a direct measure, there are other important aspects of International Trade including the participation of Sri Lankan Enterprises in production value chains thereby effectively integrating with multinational production networks related to International Trade.
For this purpose the President and the Secretary General of the Chamber had visited several Regional Chambers in the Provinces to educate them on the importance of contributing to Export Value Chains as a first step to developing into direct exporters. In this context the Regional Awards of the Chamber was a means to enable them to demonstrate their potential as future direct exporters.
Their recognition was also expected to contribute to the efforts of the Government to increase the number of direct exporters by another 2000 by 2020, through the encouragement of export entrepreneurship.
A special panel was constituted by the Chamber to evaluate the applications received through the Regional Chambers to compete for the Regional Awards.
Among the criteria use for evaluation were the extent of participation in Export Value Chains, as well as the effective utilization of local raw materials and services to the communities in the Provinces for improvement of their livelihood through economic advancement.
A notable feature of the three enterprises selected from the Jaffna, Trincomalee, and Vauniya districts for conferment of special awards from among the applications received was that one of them has already graduated to commence direct export while the other two were effective indirect exporters.
In many countries SME's are a vital component of their economies creating substantial employment as well. In the field of exports too SMEs play a vital role both as Direct Exporters, Indirect Exporters and participants in the Export Value Chains.
In the above context the Founder President of the NCE, the late Deshabandu Patrick Amerasinghe passionately appreciated the contribution made by SMEs for Economic Development and especially exports. He made it his mission to aggressively represent their issues and concerns with the relevant State Authorities and harness their contributions to the economic development efforts of the country.
The Chamber confers the special award for a Best SME Exporter in recognition of the contribution made to the export development effort to the country and in memory of the services rendered by the Late Deshabandu Patrick Amerasinghe for the development of the SME sector.
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