6th Annual Conference of Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries begins

Wednesday, 9 October 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The 6th Annual Rubber Conference of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) opened yesterday at the Galadari Hotel under the patronage of Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

The Conference was organised by Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries(ANRPC) in collaboration with the Plantation Industries Ministry. Year 2013 conference was on the theme “Sustainable NR Economy: Where Do We Stand?”, and was the first to be held in Sri Lanka. Networking it was, for the conference held on October 8 to 13, had the participation of More than 119 representatives from Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The ANRPC, an inter-governmental organisation established in 1970, comprises of 11 countries account for about 92 per cent of the global production of natural rubber. The conference will include presentations on trends in global Natural Rubber demand, the outlook for physical rubber trading in China and the outlook for the Natural Rubber future markets. Along with the Annual Rubber Conference, the General Assembly and the committee meetings of the ANRPC will also be held in Sri Lanka at the same time. According to Plantation Industries Ministry, the objectives of the conference were to improve productivity, reduce cost of production, promote value added rubber products, and generate additional revenue sources related to the rubber sector, encourage economic friendly natural rubber products and enhance the sustainability of the natural rubber industry. Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries Earl Gunasekara, Secretary of Plantation Industries Sudharma Karunaratne and Secretary General of ANRPC Dr. Kamarul Baharain bin Basir also participated at this occasion. Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe