Speaker to be patron of 1st Colombo International Logistics Conference
Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya will be the patron of the first-ever Colombo International Logistics Conference, which will be held on August 1 and 2, 2019, in Sri Lanka.
He is the current Speaker of Parliament and the only politician qualified in the shipping and logistics industry.
Jayasuriya joined the private sector after serving the Sri Lanka army and became a senior corporate executive, serving as Chairman, Managing Director and Executive Director of several companies. He has also served on over 50 companies as a board director.
He was one-time Chairman of the National Chamber of Commerce, SAARC Chamber of Commerce, Colombo Rubber Traders’ Association, Sugar Importers’ Association and Sri Lanka Business Development Centre, as well as Director of the Export Development Board. He was also Chairman of the Organising Committee of the ‘Expo 92’ trade exhibition.
Colombo International Logistics Conference 2019 is an initiative by CIMC Events, which has previously conducted the Colombo International Maritime Conference (CIMC) in 2015 and 2016 and conducted two regional South Asia Maritime and Logistics Forums (SAMLFORUM) in Mumbai, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2017 and 2018, respectively. This is the first initiative to promote Sri Lanka’s logistics industry to the world by CIMC Events.
The 2019 conference is focused on promoting Sri Lanka as a new destination for international logistics and as a regional distribution centre beyond its excellent shipping connectivity via its ports. The organisers are working with the government and private sector to bring in delegations to Sri Lanka to showcase the country along with a conference that will discuss the new trajectory and developments in logistics.
Visiting local free trade zones, storage and distribution centres, introducing local industry players and visiting the ports of Colombo, Hambantota and Trincomalee along with the Port City Project are expected in the schedule of events, where around 400 local and international participants are expected to attend.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry and Commerce Department have joined to promote the event along with other government stakeholders.