More Sri Lankan goods to be sold in Omani markets

Muscat: Popular Sri Lankan goods such as fruits, vegetables, spices and tea will soon be easily available to customers in Oman, the south-east Asian country’s ambassador has said.

Fruits and vegetables from Sri Lanka will be made available at five Carrefour outlets in the Sultanate, ahead of Sri Lanka week, which runs from 1-5 October and is being organised to spread awareness of the goods available for import from the island nation.

Speaking on the occasion of the announcement of Sri Lanka week, OL Ameer Ajwad, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Oman, said that his country was organising a display of those Sri Lankan food products that were always in demand in the Sultanate.

“Sri Lankan products, particularly in Oman, are in demand when it comes to food products, such as spices, rice, tea, fruits and vegetables,” he said.

“There is a big potential for these goods to come here. We recognise that people in Oman are very interested in vegetables, fruits, and coconut-based products from Sri Lanka, so there is a market here for it."

He added, “We try to promote these products, and it is time to focus on these things. In this context, we are bringing 11 companies specialised in food products to promote Sri Lankan goods in Oman. We will be having this event in two outlets. The first is at Muscat City Centre, and for the other two days, the event will be held at Qurum City Centre. “The displays will contain processed foods, fruits and vegetables, tea, coconut, spices and other varieties of consumer foods,” said Ajwad.

“The opening ceremony of this event will be held at Muscat City Centre, and we have invited representatives from the host country, and it will continue there until 3 October. Sri Lanka week will move to Qurum City Centre for the 4th and 5th of October.”

Adding to this, Anselm Pereira, the CEO of event organisers Business Process Outsourcing (BPO Services) said, “For logistical reasons, our base was Seeb Carrefour and Qurum Carrefour. However, we are delighted to let you know that from today onwards, Carrefour in Qurum, Muscat, Nizwa, Salalah and the Grand Mall will have Sri Lankan fruits and vegetables, and the credit for that also goes to the ambassador, because there will be fruits and vegetables from Sri Lanka in these outlets before the event starts.

As a programme, in these two locations, these products will only be displayed, because putting it into the Carrefour system and then selling them after making a purchase order will take time. We are only displaying these for now, so that during the B2B meetings, we can have businessmen who can be the agencies for these products, and then distribute them in Oman.”

Ambassador Ajwad added, "We have chosen these two locations because the main Carrefour office in Oman is at Muscat City Centre, and Qurum City Centre is closer to Wadi Kabir, where many of the Sri Lankan population in Oman live. Al of the institutions have been very cooperative. Our Export Development Board in Sri Lanka has been very proactive so I think it has only taken three weeks altogether to get this together."