AsiaSoft distributor for ISS in Sri Lanka/Dubai

The signing of the agreement took place in June this year. ISS offers the best of breed security management systems for security assessment, policy enforcement and intrusion detection systems. It is a security provider to more than 8,000 customers worldwide, including 21 of the 25 largest U.S. commercial banks and the top 10 U.S. telecommunications companies, a company statement said.

AsiaSoft is one of the leading advanced technology consulting companies in Sri Lanka providing business consultancy, e-security assurance, software development and digital services with subsidiaries in USA and Dubai. AsiaSoft is a certified security implementation partner, having the expertise and experience in carrying out security consultancy, post implementation reviews and implementation of security related products.

"There are daily reports of breaches in security, hacking into valuable confidential data resulting in heavy losses and damage to reputations.

There is a widening spectrum of computer crimes and its time for organisations to proactively measure and control their security risks, and this is exactly what ISS does," noted Ruwanthi Fernando, General Manager Business Consulting Division.

Combating credit card crime

A bank press release said participants were familiarised with the various methods employed by tricksters and trained to detect frauds. These awareness programmes run by financial institutions like HSBC are helping to reduce credit card related crimes in Sri Lanka.

Singer and HNB launch co-branded credit card

"The Singer co-branded credit card will be made available to all Singer customers who meet the bank's credit criteria," a Singer company spokesperson was quoted as saying in a press statement. "The international credit card can be used globally at over 22 million merchant sites and 450,000 ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) that carry the VISA logo."

In Sri Lanka, cardholders will also have special exclusive discounts and banded offers, from time to time, on selected Singer products at its outlets. 

In addition the co-branded cardholder will also be eligible to all the special promotions offered by the entire merchant network of HNB, the statement said. According to a spokesperson for HNB, more than 8,000 merchant outlets in Sri Lanka will accept this card while settlement of the credit card bill could be made at any HNB branch.

New Mitsubishi for used vehicle

The scheme allows vehicle owners to trade-in their used cars, vans, pick-ups, sports, utility vehicles and trucks for a brand new Mitsubishi vehicle.

"Vehicle pollution has become a major issue today, but very little has been done about it in Sri Lanka. Laws do exist to curb this problem but implementation has not been effective thus far. It only takes proper and frequent maintenance to reduce pollution. However, neglect and a lack of knowledge have bred an army of polluters," said UMLL Managing Director, Anil Wijesinghe, in a company press release.

"Our new scheme aims to motivate vehicle owners to remove such vehicles from Sri Lankan roads and to replace them with new, cleaner and greener Mitsubishi vehicles at a reduced operating cost."

The company is offering tailor-made packages including customised leasing and hiring facilities to customers to facilitate the trade-in option.

Eagle salespersons go high tech

This initiative was a result of a global strategy of Zurich Financial Services Group of which Eagle is a member. The main objective behind this initiative is to bring service levels to international standards by providing a speedier and cost effective service to customers, the company said in a statement.

The company is further planning to provide their sales personnel with financial solution software developed by the Zurich Group enabling local customers to experience the world-class financial solutions for protection and asset accumulation.

Lankaweekly.com to reflect the 'big picture'

Lankaweekly.com said in a press release it had signed agreements with the European Business Information Centre (EBIC) to feature its European Chamber of Commerce news on its Bottom Line page providing all the key information necessary for doing business with Europe and ASIAWEEK to feature regional content of ASIAWEEK on its Head Line, Bottom Line, Travel Line and Life Style pages. ASIAWEEK with a reputation for a very high standard of reporting in the region will complement the local news and views on Lankaweekly. 

Mobitel – connects lives better!

To communicate this, Mobitel said in a press release that it recently launched a heart-warming advertising campaign recognising its loyal customers and promising them continued excellence in the fields of coverage, clarity and customer care.

In keeping with this philosophy, Mobitel has started implementing a coverage expansion programme that will turbo-charge existing coverage areas. 

GE food ban on hold as committee reviews issues

By Feizal Samath

One of the fresh concerns raised in the implementation of the ban is whether it would affect food aid like wheat flour from the United States.

The ban was to have been effective from May 1, but this was put off to September as local companies wanted time to get GE-free certification on imported foods like cheese and soya products and to delay shipments.

" The decision in May was a landmark one and we completely backed the government on this,'' said Hemantha Withanage, an environmental scientist and executive director of Environmental Foundation Ltd (EFL), expressing disappointment in the then postponement.

But in an August 22 letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the EFL expressed concern about a new official committee that had been appointed by Health Minister John Seneviratne to look into the ban. ''We understand the aim of this committee is to move towards lifting the ban, which was so courageously promulgated by the Food Advisory Committee (FAC) of the health ministry.''

EFL appealed to the president not to lift the ban on one of the most progressive GE-free legislative measures in the world, saying millions of farmers, consumers and people's organisations working for safe food around the world were adamantly opposed to the genetic modification of food, its development and commercialisation.

While most countries ordered the labelling of food items to ensure they are GE-free, Sri Lanka went further in its decision and said it was banning all types of GE foods.

As the effective date of the ban nears, green groups have accused western governments, including the United States, of putting pressure on Sri Lanka to abandon the ban. But Stephen Holgate, U.S. spokesperson in Colombo and director of the U.S. Information Service, denied the charges and said the United States had only raised some concerns about the implementation of the regulation.

''At no time did we oppose the ban. Our concerns were based on the fact that there is no evidence to prove that GE foods are harmful to human health,'' he said. In May, however, Weyland Beeghly, a trade counsellor attached to the U.S. embassy in India, told reporters in Colombo that the ban was unwarranted.

He denied what he called speculative reports that the U.S. was testing this ''very risky'' GE technology on poor populations in developing countries. ''More than one third of the shelf space of any supermarket in the US is occupied by foods obtained by using biotechnology,'' Beeghly pointed out.

Thilak Ranaviraja, health ministry secretary, also agreed that the United States had not opposed the ban. He said no decision has been taken to revoke the ban, except that a new committee was reviewing the move before its implementation in September. ''We have received a lot of representations for and against the ban and hence we need to be cautious.''

Ranaviraja said the U.S. government was among countries that had sought clarification on the Sri Lankan government's ban, while some other countries, concerned with the issue, did not make written comments.

''One of the issues we need to look at is whether the ban would impact on a lot of food aid that we get from donor countries and international organisations,'' he said, adding that the government did not want to antagonise ''friendly'' countries without proper investigation before enforcing the ban.

He said the committee's findings were unlikely to be ready by early September.

EFL said that though GE foods are still untested, it has not been proven safe for consumption. ''It is deplorable that the government is willing to put economic gain before the health of the nation and has succumbed to the pressures of both international and local parties who have vested interests in this matter,'' said Withanage in a letter to the president. 

Withanage said a request from the Chamber of Commerce, the country's biggest chamber group, to the health ministry to defer the ban until 2004 was also ''disconcerting''.

The chamber wrote to the ministry on August 17, saying that Sri Lanka should follow the Codex Alimentarius Commissions (CAC) - a joint body of the World Health Organisation and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation) - which is promulgating guidelines and standards for GM foods by end-2003 for implementation in 2004.

The health ministry in May gazetted a list of 21 items which were to be banned unless proved that they are not GE foods.

Private sector officials and environmentalists said Sri Lanka was the first country in Asia to resort to a ban on GE foods and probably among the few in the world that had taken this move instead of the labelling process that is prevalent in many countries.

''There was going to be a lot of confusion over the ban,'' said S. Balachandran, a council member of the National Chamber of Commerce. ''We repeatedly told the government not to rush into this legislation and instead resort to labelling measures.''

Balachandran noted that the company that he worked for, Millers Ltd, had, however, obtained the necessary GE-free certification for the import of Kraft cheese from Australia. ''We have got certifications of our products from Australia but such certificates have been refused from the United States where we import some products,'' he added.

The debate over GE foods has been raging for over two years in Sri Lanka and follows a worldwide controversy over GE food, which contains ingredients that have been genetically modified for certain qualities, be it longer shelf life to flavour.

CCC looks at ageing population

The seminar titled "Meeting retirement income needs of an ageing population" will be held on September 14 from 1.45 pm to 5.30 pm. The chamber said the objectives of the seminar is to create an awareness about the need to review existing pension schemes to successfully meet the emerging challenges that threaten their sustainability in the near future, which would be further compounded by the demographic factor.

Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of population ageing with the over 60 population expected to increase to almost 20 percent in 2025 from 10 percent in 2001.

Presentations will be made by Prof. Indralal de Silva, head of the department of demography at the University of Colombo on "the demographic transition in Sri Lanka with special emphasis on ageing" and Nishan de Mel, a research fellow who has done extensive research in this field, who will speak on "challenges to provident and pension plans in Sri Lanka." The seminar is sponsored by Eagle NDB Management Co Ltd.

Lanka Cement Ltd turnover rises sharply

Company chairman, S.A.P. Sooriyapperuma, said the total sales volume in January-June this year was 3,323 metric tonnes, up sharply from 940 metric tonnes in the same 2000 period. Turnover rose to Rs 26.07 million from Rs. 8.12 million.

Lanka Cement said it is introducing high quality 'Diamond' cement to the market for any construction work in state corporations or private sector construction organisations.

This new product is manufactured by Madras Cement Company Ltd, one of the largest cement manufacturing facilities in Asia. Diamond cement has a good market in the Jaffna peninsula, where Lanka Cement's one billion-rupee cement production facility has been shut since 1990 due to the war.

The company said the 440-odd employees of the Lanka Cement factory at Kankesanthurai have been offered a voluntary retirement scheme with the compensation package totalling Rs. 130 million.

Indian management expert at CIMA seminar on e-market

Dr. Mahadevan is no stranger to Sri Lanka, having conducted several lecture programmes on how e-commerce and information technology are reshaping business to packed audiences over the last two years, a news release from CIMA said.

The seminar which takes place on September 28, will cover several vital areas including the principles governing electronic media, key requirements of business-to-business applications, alternative market structures including e-procurement, reverse and forward auctions, exchanges and catalogues and the role of on-line trust in business-to-business applications.

Marketing show 2001 logo launched

Marketing Show 2001 will be held from October 11 to 14 at the SLECC.

An official statement from the organisers said that marketers would enjoy many benefits by participation, such as securing promotional exposure for premium products, influencing decision makers of the marketing industry, strengthening identity in the market and heightening awareness, as well as displaying their portfolio to a distinguished audience. Other sponsors of this launch were Bates Strategic Alliance (official advertising agency), Rowland PR (official PR agency), Signtech (official outdoor advertising), 9-Hearts (official paper supplier), Graphitech (official printer), 3-Coins (official beer supplier), and Deli France (official caterer).

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