A delegation of Sadaharitha visited Australia recently to broaden their relationship with the Australian sandalwood industry and researchers...

This visit was arranged in Perth, Western Australia on an invitation sent to Dr. Upul Subasinghe, the Consultant of Sadahairtha Forest Plantations by the Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Limited and the Curtin University, where he conducts collaborative research on sandalwood with. The Chairman of the Company Mr. Sathis Navarathne and Chief Executive Director Mr. H.K. Rohana were also in the delegation as it was expected to conduct discussions on joint ventures in sandalwood industry in the future.

Dr. Upul Subasinghe conducted two invited speeches on "Indian sandalwood in Sri Lanka: Current status and scientific research information" at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Western Australia and at the Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University.

The visit was very much successful because much of the problems faced by the sandalwood researchers were discussed at the meetings and solutions were arrived. Field visits were also arranged in Wandering and Narrogin (about 250 km away from Perth) by the Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Ltd in order to provide information on Australian sandalwood trials.

In addition to that the meetings were held with the research experts in the University of Western Australia, University of Curtin and Western Australian Forest Products Commission.

Chairman and Chief Executive Director were able to lay the foundation in joint ventures in sandalwood oil related products with the Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Ltd in this visit which will be a win-win strategy for both companies. As their website (www.wescorp.com.au) mentions, Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Ltd is the world specialists in Australian sandalwood. It processes and markets over 2,000 tonne of Western Australian sandalwood per annum. It is the agent for Forest Products Commission of Western Australia for processing and marketing all of the Governments sandalwood.