The Embassy of Sri Lanka in the United States, in collaboration with the American Spice Trade Association (ASTA), hosted an evening reception at the Embassy premises in Washington D.C., recently promoting Sri Lanka as a key spice exporting country.
Over 100 guests including over 60 members of ASTA along with the senior officials representing key governmental institutions of the USA were present.
Ambassador Mahinda Samarasinghe outlined the importance of boosting the export of exclusive Sri Lankan spices and encouraged more business-to-business collaboration between the two countries, emphasising the importance of shifting towards more value-added forms of spice related exports from Sri Lanka. He also hailed the recent assistance offered by the US government to Sri Lanka at a time of need.
The President of the ASTA, Pontus Mattsson said members of ASTA look forward to develop more business opportunities in Sri Lanka leading to progressively greater trade relations between the traders involved in the spice industry of the two countries.