In the pursuit of empowering the Sri Lanka Agri Exporting community, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Germany successfully held the 4th of the series of webinars organized in collaboration with the Import Promotion Desk of Germany (IPD) and Export Development Board of Sri Lanka (EDB) on 2 November, 2021 on the topic “EU Standards & Certifications for Agri Products Sector” with special focus on Organic Products.
Commencing the Webinar, Ambassador Manori Unambuwe expressed her sincere appreciation for the continued cooperation of the EDB and IPD to empower the Sri Lankan Agri export community, especially at a time when the nation is striving to increase its export potential in the agri-food products sector amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. She further commended the exporters for their sustained enthusiasm in learning how to navigate the path in accessing and expanding their market in Germany and the wider EU over the past five months.
The keynote speaker, Value Chain Expert and external consultant of IPD Brigitte Boor walked the audience through the fundamentals of the European standards and certification systems for the Agri product sector followed by qualitative statistical analysis on constantly changing architecture, as well as trends, latest best practices, and draw-ups from the international export community. Value Chain Expert and external consultant of IPD Boor shared her expertise extensively on technical standards for Agri products with in-depth explanations on contamination levels of unhygienic elements in products, maximum residual levels for pesticides, and chemical requirements for value addition of products such as flavorings. The speaker also elaborated on the “Rapid Alert System” of the EU for Agri products and its function and uniformity in the maintenance of the highest levels of food safety standards across the EU market.
The hour-long presentation and interactive Q&A session with over 100 participants, provided the Sri Lankan exporters the input required to maximize their potential in the EU marketspace.
International Trade Consultant of the IPD hub based in Colombo Linda Mense, moderated the expert forum, and Director General, Export Development Board Chitranjali Dissanayake in her concluding remarks, extended appreciation to all stakeholders of the webinar program. The next webinar of the Embassy Series will be on the topic of “ Sustainable Supply Chains and Due Diligence” which is scheduled for December 2021.
