Floating diamonds, beer and much more in the Belgian Week

As the headline suggests, floating diamonds, beer and much more was seen at the Belgian Week in Colombo at various venues to coincide with a business cum trade delegation visiting Sri Lanka.

Speaking about “Belgian Week 2006 – October 25 – 27”, Sicille P. C. Kotelawala, Counsellor from the Belgium consulate in Colombo, welcomed the delegation and hoped it will be a beneficial week for them.

Currently representatives from nine Belgian companies from sectors such as food & beverages, interior design, construction & infrastructure, tourism industry, tobacco and IT are in the country to explore and investigate possible opportunities in Sri Lanka, said Dominique Tanghe, Trade Promotion Officer of the Consulate of Belgium, introducing the representatives.

Among the events held were, a catalogue exhibition of about 40 companies; a beer tasting promotion with over 20 varieties of Belgian beer while a Belgian chef, Chef Wim alias Guillaume from Bruges, Belgium is preparing Belgian food at the Belgian Food Festival at the Trans Asia Hotel from October 27 to 29.

Blue Diamonds Ltd, a pioneer in the diamond industry in Sri Lanka, collaborates with M/s Rosy Blue NV, a Belgian company. It currently has about 1500 skilled cutters while export values are around US$ 200 million per year. Some 90% of Blue Diamond exports go to Antwerp, Belgium.

“We are the largest exporters of diamond jewellery in Sri Lanka, with an average value of jewellery per month being US$ 410 000,” said Godfrey De Kretzer, Marketing Director of Blue Diamonds Jewellery Worlwide Ltd.