ASP Liyanage (centre) and Mohamed Althaf (right), visiting the festival venue after the inauguration. Pics: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
DOHA: A first of its kind Sri Lankan Festival was launched yesterday in Doha coinciding with the country’s 70th Independence Day.
The event was officially inaugurated by ASP Liyanage, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Qatar, at Lulu Hypermarket, Barwa City branch.
The week-long Festival is being held on a theme “Rasavat Sri Lanka” (Flavoursome Sri Lanka) at all Lulu outlets across the country. The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Mohamed Althaf, Director, Lulu Group International, together with several other officials and guests.
Speaking at the event, Liyanage highlighted the importance of the festival and the recent developments relating to the establishment of Lulu Group in Sri Lanka.
The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Qatar, ASP Liyanage (centre) and Director of Lulu Group International, Mohamed Althaf, inaugurate ‘Rasavat Sri Lanka’ at the Barwa City branch of Lulu Hypermarket yesterday.
The Festival aims at promoting Sri Lankan products, culture and culinary among the local and expatriate communities. A wide range of Sri Lankan commodities and agricultural produce are on display at discounted prices, and special counters set for tasting and sampling for customers. Also traditional Sri Lankan food items are on offer.
The inauguration also highlighted the diverse culture and heritage of Sri Lanka. It featured a few traditional Sri Lankan dance and singing performances to create the ambience. A group students from Lasanthi Dancing Academy performed a fusion based on traditional ‘Kandyan’ dance. The festival will continue until February 10.
Lulu Group has organised the Festival in cooperation with their recently inaugurated export unit YAS Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This unit was set up last year with an aim to boost Lulu Group’s sourcing operations and to bring-in high quality products for their chain of hypermarkets across the world. The facility is primarily focusing on sourcing, processing, storing, packaging and exporting of fruits, vegetables and commodities from Sri Lanka to various Lulu operations around the world.
During the event officials also disclosed that, Lulu Group has expansion plans to venture into the retail sector in the next phase with a world-class shopping mall and modern hypermarket in Colombo and spadework in this regard is underway.
Meanwhile, Independent Television Network Ltd. (ITN), one of the National channels of Sri Lanka - has organised a special telecast of the event through their channel.
