History

Sri Lanka EXPO

Sri Lanka's solo exhibition portfolio goes back to the early 1980s, when several mini exhibitions for buyer groups who visited Sri Lanka for selected products such as  gems and handlooms were organised.  The Mini Hand loom Exhibition organized for Norwegian buyers under the aegis of NORIMPOD was a great success. More such events, namely Buyer Seller Meets in Copenhagen Denmark in 1981, Tokyo, Japan in 1982 and Los Angeles, USA in 1984 were organised with the assistance of Commonwealth Secretariat.

In 1990s, the business community made demands on state institutions like Sri Lanka Export Development Board to organize large scale solo exhibitions of international standards in Sri Lanka. The first initiative was to organize the “Colombo Fair” which was eventually branded as “Sri Lanka Expo”, with the active support of the public and private sector institutions. The first Sri Lanka Expo was successfully conducted in November 1992.

Sri Lanka EXPO 1992

Sri Lanka Expo'92 , the first ever International Trade Fair in Sri Lanka was held from 18th November to 24th November 1992 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall. This was a seven day trade exhibition under the theme of "Sri Lanka's Window to the World". Three Hundred and seventy five (375) companies exhibited a wide range of products and services. The fair attracted three thousand six hundred (3600) overseas buyers and investors from over 46 countries, and generated Rs. 1 Billion worth of confirmed orders. Buyers from Europe recorded the highest number closely followed by SAARC and Asia Pacific region.

With the accelerated promotion of foreign investments into Sri Lanka, the Investment Forum held to coincide with Sri Lanka Expo '92 provided a platform to explain to the large number of potential investors from overseas, the array of attractive incentives for new investments.

Sri Lanka EXPO 1994

Sri Lanka Expo' 94, the country's second international style export fair was held from 18th to 23rd October , 1994 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition & Convention Center. This was a six day trade exhibition with the initial four days exclusively for buyers and investors.

Sri Lanka Expo '94 had approximately 315 stalls with the participation of over 350 exhibitors. Approximately 1730 overseas buyers and investors from over 40 countries, visited the fair.

Sri Lanka EXPO '97

Sri Lanka Expo' 97, the country's third international style export fair was held from October 8th to 11^th, 1997, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall under the theme "Asia's Emerging Growth Centre". This was a five day event with over three hundred companies exhibiting a wider range of products and around 3000 overseas buyers and investors from over 50 countries visited Expo 97 during the first four days of the exhibition. Significant increase in trade for  Gems and Jewellery , Ceramic sector , Light Engineering  and Processed Food Sector was recorded.

With the successes recorded in the previous Expo fairs the EDB is now planning a mega scale trade promotion event in March 2012, as a flagship event to be held every two years from now on.