Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2017 kicks off today

The two-day Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2017 will be inaugurated this morning with the participation of the Principal Economic Adviser to the Indian Government Sanjeev Sanyal, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne, Deputy Minister of Economic Planning Dr. Harsha De Silva and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Rajendra Theagrajah.

The two-day event, which is the country’s foremost economic summit and is being organised for the 17th consecutive year, will be held under the title of ‘Execute – Transform - Realize’.  Eight thematic sessions will be conducted during the summit, while the inaugural session will be held under the title of ‘Accelerating Growth and Pushing for Performance’.

Over 50 resource persons consisting of high-profile Cabinet Ministers, policymakers, business leaders and academics will take their seats to share insights and also make recommendations on how Sri Lanka can transform its economy to realise its true potential through the right execution of plans.

Seventeen foreign speakers, leaders in their respective fields, will bring in an international perspective to summit discussions, which will be held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo.

In a message sent to the summit, Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said: “In its 17th successive year, the summit organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has consistently provided a forum for the generation and debate of new economic thinking and insights that help shape the national economic agenda.”

“I have always been impressed with the very high standards of intellectual debate at the sessions, whilst at the same time being grounded in practical reality and offering workable solutions,” he added.

The summit will see the attendance of 400 participants, the majority of whom consist of high-profile corporate executives, senior public sector officials, academics and sectoral representatives.

Sunshine Holdings Plc comes in as the Platinum Sponsor of the event, Standard Chartered Bank as the Gold Sponsor, Fonterra Brands as the Silver Sponsor and Dialog Axiata as the Telecommunications Partner. Meanwhile, Janashakthi Insurance, Prima Group, Nestle Lanka, GS1 Lanka and Sri Lanka Convention Bureau join in as strategic partners. Echo Wave will serve as the Digital Events Platform Partner and OMD of the Omnicom Media Group is the Communications Partner.