Foreign speakers to bring in an international perspective to Economic Summit

The Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2017, which will focus on how the Lankan economy can be transformed from potential to realisation, has lined up 16 foreign speakers to bring in an international perspective to the discussion table.

The eminent set of speakers, highly regarded in their respective work areas, will share knowledge on global best practices and standards and also examples of what worked and did not in economic and business management, which will help Lankan policymakers and business leaders.

The Chief Economic Adviser to the Indian Government Dr. Arvind Subramanian will be the most high-profile foreign speaker on stage and he will be the first foreign speaker to speak at the summit’s inauguration. The rest of the speakers will take part across the eight thematic sessions of the summit, which will be held across two days.

The other listed speakers are Dr. Amitendu Palit - Senior Research Fellow, Research Lead of Trade and Economic Policy of National University of Singapore, Dr. Wen Zha - Associate Professor of China Foreign Affairs University, Kamal Quadir - Chief Executive Officer of Bkash Ltd, Shashank Srivastava - Managing Director, WSD Consulting and former CEO of Qatar Financial Center, Hang Tian - Deputy General Manager of China Merchant Port Holdings Company Ltd, Sanjay Ganesh Ubale - Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, Dr. Qu Jain - Vice President of China Development Institute and the Expert Committee Member of the Ministry of Commerce of China, Dr. Rae Kwon Chung - former Principal Advisor on Climate Change, Executive Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ralph Van Doorn - Senior Country Economist for Sri Lanka and the Maldives of The World Bank, Elizabeth Ward - Special Negotiator, Office of Trade Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, Dr. Harsha Vardhana Singh - Executive Director of Brookings India, a policy research body and Eric Miller - President of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group. In the meantime, Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja - Chair, Global Economy Program of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, Arun Miranda - the Chairman and Managing Director of Astrotech Steels Ltd. and Managing Director of Trinity Steels Ltd, Sunil Sethi - Managing Director, Fonterra Brands Lanka and Jim McCabe - Chief Executive Officer of the Standard Chartered Bank of Sri Lanka who is currently based in Sri Lanka or has a presence in Sri Lanka will also take the stage. The Sri Lanka Economic Summit will be held under the title of ‘Execute – Transform – Realize’ and will take place on 25 and 26 July at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo.

Sunshine Holdings Plc comes in as the Platinum Sponsor of the event, Standard Chartered Bank enters the fray as the Gold Sponsor, Fonterra Brands as the Silver Sponsor and Dialog Axiata is the Telecommunications Partner, while Janashakthi Insurance, the Prima Group and Nestle Lanka join in as the strategic partners. Echo Wave comes in as the Digital Events Platform Partner and OMD of the Omnicom Media Group is the communications partner. Those who wish to take part in the event can call 115588877, email [email protected] or visit the event’s website www.srilankaeconomicsummit.com.