Financial Times

Turning a crisis into opportunity
By Quintus Perera
The recent tsunami disaster could provide some opportunities for Sri Lanka in the context of the country being well known across the world, according to Rohantha Athukorala, new chairman of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB).

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times FT, Athukorala said overnight the country has become a 'Top-of-the-Mind' brand to everybody in the world which otherwise would have cost Sri Lanka millions of dollars to advertise.

Newspapers recently reported how former world boxing champion Evander Holyfield, who was in Sri Lanka with a relief team from the United States, said he didn't know a country called Sri Lanka existed before the disaster.

The EDB chairman said this opportunity should be grabbed and must be put to the best use. He said the EDB is fully geared to exploit this opportunity to reach the highest export levels with the machinery already in motion to achieve the envisaged target for 2005.

He says the EDB is targeting export revenues at Rs 600 billion this year. The latest revenue figures available for 2004 is Rs 472 billion in the first 10 months of that year, up from Rs 423 billion in the same period in 2003.

The impact on exports from the tsunami impact is only on coir, fisheries and vegetable sectors and the damage is now being assessed. The actual damage figure would be available on February 5 and by then remedial action would be taken to revive these affected areas, he added.

The EDB chairman, one of Sri Lanka's new breed of top marketers, said that developing the small and medium scale export-based industries is the EDB's social responsibility and the Treasury has allocated a thumping Rs 1 billion to develop this sector.

It has identified 34 products and of them model farms could be developed which could be the training ground for new SME's. He said the best example is anthuriam growing in which the weekly export requirement is 5,000 but only 3,000 could be obtained. Currently Wayamba is handling a model farm in anthurium growing and once it develops it could expand into collecting centres, where then it would be a cottage industry for exports. In that manner other products would also be expanded.

He said the private sector should be driven to find a way to obtain the maximum benefit from the Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan that is now in the offing and said, "Working with the Pakistanis would ideally fit into our family-based culture."

The EDB is also pushing for more information of all exporters as it only has data of 2,000 of the 4,000 exporters and steps are underway to collect the balance details.

Athukorala said since the tsunami disaster, plans are underway to open three more sub offices in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa with e-links which will supplement offices currently now in Galle and Kurunegala. "Everybody would then have equal opportunity in looking at the global market by using the EDB resources," he added.

The EDB chairman said they are bringing down Paul Collyere, a top trainer from a leading British company to help garments factories on productivity balancing. Athukorala said that the government has allocated Rs 43 million for a public relations project in the US among the leading apparel buyers and the project is almost finalized. He said that these plans and strategies are worked out with the respective stakeholders of the industry in, joint projects with the private sector.

In tea and rubber too, the EDB is working on areas to promote and develop niche-market products. He said in some areas the tsunami impact on exports would be temporary - just like vegetables and fruits to The Maldives which was also badly affected by the tsunami.

Athukorala expected the situation to improve by end March. Some 22 of the 83 resorts there have been damaged. But reconstruction work of these resorts is on and the Maldivian government is planning a global marketing campaign by April.

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