WISTA Sri Lanka celebrates 4th year anniversary and AGM 2018

The Sri Lankan arm of the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) held its Annual General Meeting recently, electing office bearers for the year 2018/19. Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake graced the occasion as its Chief Guest. 

The event also included a keynote address by Aden Wong of Drewry Maritime Advisors, Singapore, who highlighted the importance of achieving Sri Lanka’s potential by becoming the maritime hub for the Asian region. He also stressed that Colombo has the potential of being a service centric International Maritime Centre by developing key market segments such as Ports and Logistics, Maritime Finance and Law, Maritime Technology and as a Shipping Centre. 

The election of office bearers saw Rukshila Antony De Seram, Director of CGV Antony & Sons being elected as the President for the year 2018/19. Rukshila brings in a wealth of knowledge and experience to lead WISTA as the first and only female Naval Architect in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile Catriona Jayasundera, the Head of Marketing at Colombo International Container Terminals was elected as the Deputy President, Nilu Wickremasinghe, Director at Salota International Ltd. was elected as the Secretary, Debbie Jones, Correspondent Manager at GAC Shipping Ltd. was elected as the Assistant Secretary, Dharshi Gunasekara, Director/CFO of EMG Spedition Ltd. was elected as Treasurer and Chamila Bandara General Manager/Chief Operating Officer of Mountain Hawk Express Ltd. was elected as the Assistant Treasurer. 

The newly elected Executive Committee for the year 2018/19 consists of Shehara Jayawardena, Swabha Wickramasinghe, Diruni Chanmugam, Keshani Jayasekara, Ishani Caldera, Anoma V. Ranasinghe, Amali Mudunkotuwa Mendis, Shalinie De Silva, Felicita Alwis, Nirmalee Pereira, Menaka Yogendra, Hannelore Baldsing, Sujani Kaumarasinghe, Shamalee Premasiri and Dilhani Anthony. The Executive Committee will continue to lead the many WISTA initiatives on empowering women in the Shipping and Logistics Sector in Sri Lanka.

Speaking at the event the newly elected President, Rukshila Anthony said that WISTA strives to create opportunities for females to enter the maritime field through education and knowledge sharing whilst helping those already in it to develop further professionally. She also mentioned that WISTA Sri Lanka has lined up many initiatives for the upcoming year and she is confident that together with the newly appointed Executive Committee will be able to give leadership for a successful execution. 

WISTA SL also felicitated Shehara Jayawardena for the immense contributions made to empower women and improve gender equality in the Shipping and Logistics industry. As the founder president of WISTA Shehara has truly lived by the values and objectives of the Association in raising the profile of women in the maritime sector and has been an inspiration to all the members to excel in the industry.