The Chief Guest at the inauguration ceremony was Hon. Anoma Gamage, Deputy Minister of Petroleum Resources Development of Sri Lanka. Mr. Sharad Amalean, Chairman, Joint Apparel Association Forum; Mr. Rehan Lakhany, Chairman, Sri Lanka Apparel Export Association; Ms. Suja K. Menon, Head of Economic & Commercial Wing, High Commission of India; and Mr. Sunil Satgonda Patil, Chairman, PDEXCIL were also present.

            Hon. Anoma Gamage, in her address, conveyed that textile industry forms an important pillar of the Sri Lankan economy, given its contribution to GDP, exports and forex earning, employment generation etc. She added that the textile sector also plays an important role in achieving the goals envisaged by the Government of Sri Lanka in its Vision 2025. She underlined the strong bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka, and cited the potential to further strengthen the collaboration in the textile sector. She also recalled her own personal connect with the textile industry for almost 25 years.

            Ms. Suja K. Menon spoke about the synergy that exists between India and Sri Lanka in the textile and apparel sector, given the strengths of India in the raw material base and manufacturing, and that of Sri Lanka in making a mark in certain niche categories. She also mentioned that several Sri Lankan companies are also investing in India in the textile sector, contributing further to Indian economy. 

PDEXCIL has had a longstanding association with Sri Lanka since 1998. There also exists an MOU between PDEXCIL and Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA), which was signed in Gujarat in June 2017.

 At the event, about 30 exhibitors from various textile clusters of India are displaying variety of fabrics, made-ups, home textiles, cotton and blended yarn etc.

The event concludes on 31 July 2019.