Sri Lanka trade body pushes AI adoption to boost regional SME exports

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board (EDB) has launched an initiative to drive artificial intelligence (AI) adoption among regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), aimed at sharpening their competitiveness in volatile international markets.

The state export promoter recently concluded a practical workshop in Kandy, drawing 55 regional SME exporters and entrepreneurs to explore how emerging digital applications can optimize day-to-day operations and lower transaction costs.

The program, sponsored by Habib Bank, focused on deploying AI tools across critical export functions, including global market research, foreign buyer identification, digital marketing automation, and predictive customer engagement.

“The interactive sessions demonstrated how AI-powered platforms can help SMEs significantly reduce the time and resource drain associated with routine administration, thereby improving strategic decision-making and opening up new international market corridors,” the EDB said in a statement.

Uditha Bandara, Chief Executive and Founder of Bluechip Tech Limited and Bluechip Technologies Asia, who served as the primary resource person, demonstrated practical deployments of digital tools to bridge capabilities for smaller firms competing globally.

The Kandy workshop forms part of a wider, ongoing digital strategy by the EDB to build out the technological frameworks of outstation enterprise clusters, helping local exporters insulate their margins through higher productivity and process innovation. (Colombo/Oct30/2026)