Sri Lanka Electronic Manufacturers and Exporters Association holds Annual General Meeting
The Sri Lanka Electronic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (SLEMEA) held its 21st Annual General Meeting on July 25th at the Ramada Colombo.
State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne graced the event as the chief guest. The minister iterated the importance of facilitating and promoting the national electrical and electronics sector for Sri Lanka to realise exponential growth in export revenue. The Association’s outgoing president Chandana Dissanayake, Operations Director at GPV Lanka highlighted the past years achievements of the Association in shaping national policy; in particular the reduction of PAL from 7 percent to 2.5 percent and gearing the sector to realise the 17 percent export growth.
The incoming president, Manjulal Waas, Senior Manager at Zone 24x7 assured that SLEMEA will play a pivotal role in facilitating growth of the sector. Prominence was placed on promoting a culture of research and development in the sector, starting with the 17 recognised companies currently engaged in R&D.
Ironing out industry-wide obstacles that currently prevents the industry’s 80 plus companies from delivering the most efficient outcomes is also a primary objective of existence of the organization and the Association will continue to be the facilitator to work towards eliminating such obstacles and friction. Assistant Director of Export Services at Export Development Board, Akila de Zoysa outlined the government support schemes available for the industry alongside the ongoing state efforts to uplift the industry’s R&D ecosystem.
With Sri Lanka ranked 89th in the Global Innovation Index (2019), the dire need for sectorfocused Start-up Accelerators to boost an innovation culture was gravely recognised. Potential synergies through inter-industry collaborations with the energy sector were addressed by the guest speaker, Prof. Kithsiri Liyanage, senior professor, Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering, University of Peradeniya.