‘Logistics Conference 2018’ successfully held in Trincomalee
 

The Logistics Conference 2018 - Trincomalee, organized by the Naval and Maritime Academy (NMA) for the 3rd successive year was held at the Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda Auditorium in Trincomalee on 25 May 2018. This year’s theme of the conference ‘Sri Lanka as a Financial Centre: Opportunities and Challenges’ was quintessentially a sensible one upon which the scholars conducted their presentations.

The Guest of Honour of the occasion was, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of the Central bank of Sri Lanka and the event was also graced by the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe, the Director General Logistics, Rear Admiral Udaya Hettiarachchi, the Director General Budget and Finance, Rear Admiral Vijitha Meddegoda, the Commander Eastern Naval Area, Rear Admiral Niraja Attygalle and a host of senior and junior officers belonging to the Supply Branch. Apart from that, a number of participants representing universities, government and private institutions, scholars and logistics officers from the Bangladesh, Indian, and Pakistan navies also took part in this year’s conference.

The welcome speech of Logistics Conference 2018 was delivered by the Commandant Naval and Maritime Academy, Commodore Kalana Jinadasa in welcoming the distinguished participants from local and foreign institutions. Subsequently, the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe conducted the inaugural speech of the conference and emphasized the timeliness of this seminar focused on the economic development policies of the government. He also conveyed his deep sense of appreciation for the gracious presence of the Central Bank Governor, Dr. Coomaraswamy, as the keynote speaker.

The Director General Logistics, Rear Admiral Udaya Hettiarachchi delivered the opening remarks and underlined that Sri Lanka is at the crossroads of the world’s geo-economic tectonic shift, witnessing the resurgence of Asia.

Dr. Coomaraswamy delivered the keynote address focusing on the main conference theme ‘Sri Lanka as a Financial Centre Opportunities and Challenges’. His speech shed light upon as to how the county’s economy can be boosted through a number of measures including the strategic location of Sri Lanka and Foreign Direct Investments.

The first session of the conference discussed ‘Government Policies in Financial Discipline Application and Control as Financial Centre’. Meanwhile, the second and third sessions unfolded making way for deliberation on ‘Foreign Direct Investments and Effect of Economic Growth to Become a Financial Centre in the South Asian Region’ and Collaboration Between Sri Lanka with Military Aspects to Becoming a Financial Centre in the Region’ respectively. Summarizing the papers presented and discussions ensued, Professor Ranjith Bandara conducted the concluding remarks of the Logistics

Conference 2018. He also acknowledged the successful completion of the event that enabled stakeholders to share academic knowledge and experience of different organization as well as countries on the field of logistics.