Week-long Sri Lankan Festival opens at Lulu in Qatar

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 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. (The Peninsula)