FTZMA congratulates newlyappointed EDB Chairman

The Free Trade Zone Manufacturers Association (FTZMA), on behalf of its members, congratulated the newly-appointed Export Development Board (EDB) Chairman Suresh de Mel, who is expected to assume duties on Monday.

The FTZMA consists of the investors, especially the export manufacturers and service providers within and outside the Export Processing Zones (EPZS) of the Board of Investment (BOI), within the purview of section 17 of the BOI law.

“We represent the interests of our investors in meeting their objectives and do our utmost to facilitate them in all t heir needs i n order t o have a smooth, regular and sustainable operations in all the BOI zones in the country.

The FTZMA has gone beyond what is expected on their advice and also look into the welfare of the employees and development of the zones, their infrastructure as well as other important issues that arise from time to time, where our expertise plays a vital role in making representations at various state agencies,” a letter addressed to De Mel, signed by FTZMA Chairman Jatin Biala and Secretary Dhammika Fernando, read. “The FTZMA has been in existence ever since the GCEC came into being and has been active from 1980, almost 40 years. We have our permanent secretariat located in the Katunayake EPZ, being the first, out of all 14 BOI EPZS and has also been a model for the establishment of other zones as well.

We are working in close cooperation with the BOL; we are also an employer member of the National Labour Advisory Council. We liaise with all other statutory bodies, including the EDB on behalf of our member enterprises continually. We learn through the media the experience you have gained through the development of regional SMES, entrepreneurship, labour relations, responsible tourism, sustainable agriculture and also have been passionately championing entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka via the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN).

We, therefore, believe that you could steer the EDB to greater heights in future development and promotion of exports in the country by strengthening and educating the entire export community to drive the much-needed growth of exports of the country,” the letter further read.