by Kelly Dawson and Martin Li

In honor of Sri Lanka's continued success on JD.com, the company presented the Excellent Growth Partner of the Year award to the Sri Lankan ambassador to China, Palitha T.B. Kohona, in Beijing on June 16.

'As ambassador of Sri Lanka to China, I would like to be a collaborator in connecting JD.com's cutting-edge technology and its business involving Sri Lanka,' said Palitha T.B. Kohona at the awards ceremony, which took place during JD's 618 Grand promotion (Jun. 1-18), one of the biggest mid-year shopping festivals in the world. This year's festival also marks the 18th anniversary of JD.com.

Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Palitha T.B. Kohona visits JD.com's SEVEN FRESH omni-channel supermarket chain in Beijing, accompanied by Meng Xuebing, who is in charge of the center of commodities of SEVEN FRESH, and VP of JD.com Larry Lee

'We are honored to award our country partner Sri Lanka and the esteemed ambassador today for the country's ongoing partnership with JD.com,' said Vice President of JD.com Larry Lee, who presented the award to the ambassador.

'We all know that JD.com is a very successful business model, and it continues to innovate,' Ambassador Kohona said. 'I think that there are lots of areas in which the world can benefit from JD.com, Sri Lanka in particular.'

He pointed to China's recent announcement that it has eliminated extreme poverty across the country, calling out JD.com's role in achieving that goal.

'It's companies like JD.com that have contributed to this, and made it possible. Now Sri Lanka also wants to eliminate poverty, and one way to do it is to help our small producers make use of companies like JD.com to market their products. If we can do so, I know that our poverty can also be alleviated,' Ambassador Kohona said.

Since the opening of the Sri Lanka National Pavilion on JD Worldwide in Jan. 2021, iconic products from the country including tea, gems, spices and more have performed well among JD's more than 500 million customers. JD's capabilities in logistics, finance, supply chain and marketing have provided easy access for Sri Lankan brands to enter the Chinese market.

SEVEN FRESH, JD.com's omni-channel supermarket chain has also welcomed a variety of Sri Lankan products to its offerings. 'We are grateful to Sri Lanka for the enormous efforts that have been put into bringing quality products to our customers, among which we have seen enormous interest in Sri Lankan products,' said Meng Xuebing, who is in charge of the center of commodities of SEVEN FRESH.

Speaking at the opening of the Sri Lankan National Pavilion in January, Ambassador Kohona expressed further hopes for Sri Lanka-China trade.

'For Sri Lanka, China is a massive opportunity, and we would like to continue to enter the Chinese market to a greater extent than what we are doing now,' Ambassador Kohona said. 'Sri Lanka sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean; therefore, it provides some of the most lucrative supply chains and markets that the world has ever seen. We hope our collaboration with JD can benefit both of our sides.'

JD Worldwide's National Pavilions project first began in 2015 to introduce a range of high-quality products from a given country, spanning multiple brands, providing best-in-class products sourced from around the world.

(kellydawson@jd.com, bjlihao3@jd.com)

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JD.com Inc. published this content on 17 June 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 June 2021 02:53:03 UTC.