Sri Lanka to showcase largest-ever B2B country pavilion at Gulfood 2026 in Dubai
Daily FT: The Export Development Board (EDB) of Sri Lanka is set to organise the country’s largest-ever Business-to-Business (B2B) pavilion at the prestigious Gulfood International Trade Fair 2026, scheduled to take place from 26-30 January 2026, in Dubai, UAE.
A special media briefing was held recently at the Export Development Board (EDB), presided over by EDB Chairman Mangala Wijesinghe concurrent with the pre-fair workshop held to inform exporters participating in the exhibition. EDB officials, including Director of the Export Agriculture Division Janaka Badugama, and exporters participated in this occasion.
Spanning an impressive 510 square meters at the Dubai Exhibition Centre in Expo City, the Sri Lanka Country Pavilion will feature 61 leading export companies showcasing a diverse range of products including coconut products, processed foods, spices, tea, and ready-to-eat items.
Gulfood, recognised as one of the world’s most important food and beverage sourcing events, has consistently demonstrated its value as a premier platform for networking, innovation, and business development. The 30th edition of Gulfood reportedly generated approximately $ 20 billion in trade deals over five days, attracting over 5,500 exhibitors from 129 countries and more than 144,000 visitors who explored over one million products.
The 31st edition of Gulfood 2026 will be hosted across two venues – the Dubai World Trade Centre and the Dubai Exhibition Centre – making it the largest edition to date.
Sri Lanka’s participation in Gulfood 2026 represents a strategic initiative to expand the country’s footprint in key international markets. In 2024, Sri Lankan agricultural commodities valued at $ 1,381 million were exported to the MEASA region (Middle East, Africa, and South Asia), with food and beverage products accounting for $ 1,171.31 million of this total.
“This event presents a strategic opportunity to showcase Sri Lanka’s premium food and beverage products to a broader audience across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, as well as the EU and related markets. Our main objective is to increase exports to the MEASA region by $ 20-30 million by 2027,” said EDB Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Managala Wijesinghe.
The Gulfood platform offers Sri Lankan companies an excellent opportunity to network with major industry stakeholders, capture new market opportunities, promote Sri Lankan brands, develop high-quality business contacts, and strengthen relationships with existing buyers through interactive experiences and business matchmaking programmes.
OSL take:
Along with the economic expansion programme, Sri Lanka is focused on attracting more foreign businesses/investors to the country. Apart from the well-known attractions like Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed by the country with many foreign countries, Sri Lanka is also increasing the incentives on offer for foreign businesses/investors entering the country along with an improving ease of doing business environment in the country. All these factors and Sri Lanka’s steady ascension to the position of regional hub, entering Sri Lanka would yield many benefits in the near future. The expanding business/investment opportunities have helped boost Sri Lanka’s private sector and have also attracted the attention of many leading foreign businesses/investors. Sri Lanka therefore presents the ideal business/investment destination as well as a venue for foreign businesses to set up operations in the region to engage with other countries in the region using the preferential treatment enjoyed by Sri Lanka with them.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20251217/Z_1 |