The MARA Foreign Economic Cooperation Center (FECC), an FAO-recognized reference center for South-South Cooperation (SSC) coordination, research and training, organized an online training of capacity building for tropical fruit production and commercialization in Sri Lanka on Oct. 10-14, 2022.     

The event represents the first capacity building activity of the China-FAO-Sri Lanka SSC Programme. Up to 35 trainees participated in the event, including officials and technicians from the Fruit Crop Research and Development Institute, National Institute of Post Harvest Management, and Department of Technology Promotion under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Sri Lanka, along with officials and experts from the MARA Department of International Cooperation and FECC.  

FECC Deputy Director-General Li Zhiping delivered a speech at the event. She was joined by Liu Guodao, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS), Nalin Munasinghe, Assistant FAO Representative in Sri Lanka, and Gamini Samarasinghe, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture of Sri Lanka. 

The Chinese Government, the Sri Lankan Government and FAO signed the Triangular Agreement on the China-FAO-Sri Lanka South-South Cooperation Programme in December 2018. As an FAO reference center for SSC coordination, research and training, FECC is responsible for implementing the SSC programme. CATAS is responsible for selecting and dispatching ten experts and technicians to Sri Lanka for a two-year term of technical assistance.   

This FAO-China SSC Programme project for Sri Lanka was officially launched via video link on Oct. 27, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and domestic situation in Sri Lanka. The training is thus implemented as scheduled.