Phenomenal 30th NCE Export Awards in Dec.

The stage has been set for the 30th NCE Export Awards ceremony to be held at Colombo Shangri-La on December 2, Chairman Event’s Sub Committee NCE Export Awards Jayantha Karunaratne said.

He said exporters can benefit enormously by participating in the event. “It is a very elegant event held every year and improving day by day. To commemorate the 30th anniversary as the event subcommittee we have planned a different awards ceremony for award winners embarking on a new concept this year.

This is an event we really want to celebrate because for 30 years consecutive years the NCE has been doing it. Also we have added new awards like ethical training and various other things. That is to give some kind of recognition and check the sustainability of the business. We want to come out from day to day business and get a profit attitude and ensure that the business is sustainable to help the planet, people and also make profit.”

He said they would be especially promoting ethical trading and a special certificate would be issued. He said the general idea of a business is to make money, take profit and go. “But we want to leave that, for the future of the country and business. Though we make profits it has to be sustainable and has to be done in a proper manner,” Karunaratne said. For exporters, the NCE awards are definitely helpful to the company and held in a very transparent manner with a very good questionnaire system which asks the exporter ‘ what have you done during corresponding year and in the past and the strategy for the future’.

So it is helpful to do planning for the current year and strategic planning for the future. It is definitely some kind of a study for the company and whether they win an award or not it is a very good exercise for the company. And during the process the company feels as if the entire management is involved in it. It is definitely an exercise to test themselves, he said.

The NCE Export Awards consist of two judging panels, technical and a main panel of professionals and by going through the process the applicant comes to know what they are good at and what their weaknesses are and it is a good experience to the exporter. He said the receiving of applications and the judging is done by a separate set of people and they want more and more people to come in and participate to create much more competition among the exporters in order to select the best.

He said ethical certification is a concept the NCE introduced about a year ago and many companies have applied and got their certification and the country has over 500 exporters and a large range of exporters were shipping to the EU.

Karunaratne said the NCE Export awards is an elegant and great event and one can gain a lot by applying for it, and getting an award is a great thing with competition and two panels going through the application. He said to be transparent they have a totally independent panel of judges who are all professionals headed by Dr Jagath Peiris as Chairman.

He also said the proposal in the interim budget to waive off Rs 680 million debt owned by farmers was a very good one and bring down the retirement age from 65 to 60 was excellent because those government people don’t work and increasing VAT from 12-15% was a good move because in other countries the VAT stands between 18% to 20%.

He also said privatizing the two banks was needed to do away with inefficiencies and bad management that happens when it is fully owned by the government. He said when you look at Singapore and most of the places 50-51% is owned by the government to keep the control and the management lies with the private sector having 49% stake.

Karunaratne who is also the Chairman Colombo Tea Traders ‘Association and MD Imperial Teas(Pvt) Ltd said tea prices have increased a lot and a kilo of tea which was Rs 600 last year is now Rs 2,500. The depreciation of the rupee, the decrease in crop by 20% and the increase in demand overseas has contributed to this, he said.

ANCL is the print media sponsor of the event.