A senior Brazilian delegation met officials of the Ministry of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources in Colombo on Tuesday to discuss reviving Sri Lanka’s ornamental fish industry, sourcing raw material for local seafood processing, and launching joint research between the two countries.
The delegation drew on Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Brazilian Embassy, ITN News reported.
It was led by Jorge Geraldo Kadri, Brazil’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, who presented his credentials in August. Deputy head of mission Paulo Antonio Viana Jr. also attended, along with Danilo Tadashi Tagami Kamimura, director of Brazil’s department of non-tariff negotiations and sustainability, and Marlos Schuck Vicenzi, its coordinator for sanitary and phytosanitary affairs.
Three strands
Ornamental fish took first place on the agenda. The two sides went into expanding production and trade, fish health management, strict quarantine requirements, correct export procedures, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards — the regulatory machinery that decides whether live fish can cross a border at all.
Seafood processing was the second strand. The talks examined the practical feasibility of sourcing raw material from Brazil to lift the production capacity of Sri Lanka’s processing industry, and what that would mean for commercial and trade ties between the two countries.
Joint research was the third. Officials stressed the value of Sri Lanka and Brazil running shared research programmes in fisheries and aquatic resources, and exchanging technology and expertise.
Authorities expect the technical cooperation, raw-material supply chain and research partnership with Brazil to give the sector new momentum, given global demand for Sri Lankan ornamental fish and for its wider fisheries output, ITN reported.
Representing Sri Lanka were the ministry secretary, Dr. B.K. Kolitha Kamal Jinadasa, and Kithsiri, chairman of the National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA), with senior officials of the ministry, the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) and the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
Context
Ornamental fish is a small but high-value export sector supplying aquarium markets in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. It is also still recovering: in May the government announced grants of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 75,000 for small-scale breeders whose production sites were destroyed by Cyclone Ditwah, alongside a promised overhaul of the import rules governing which species may be brought in legally. The quarantine and export-procedure questions raised with the Brazilian delegation sit directly on top of that unfinished regulatory work.
Not reported
The report does not say whether any agreement or memorandum of understanding was signed — the account describes discussions only. It gives no volumes, values or timelines for the proposed raw-material supply, does not identify which species or products Brazil would supply, and does not say when the two sides will meet again. NAQDA’s chairman is named only by a single name in the Sinhala report. No minister is recorded as attending.
A note on sourcing: this meeting was reported by ITN, the state broadcaster, and no verified newsroom’s own filing on it could be found. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives the ambassador’s name as Jorge Geraldo Kadri, the spelling used above and in this archive; the Sinhala report renders it phonetically.
Sources: A new approach from Brazil for Sri Lanka’s ornamental fish industry, seafood processing industry and joint research — ITN News, October 22 (Sinhala).