Council for Business with Britain hosts 19th AGM

The 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Council for Business with Britain (CBB) was conducted on 20 June at Westminster House and presided over by HSBC Sri Lanka & Maldives Chief Executive Officer Mark Prothero, with British High Commissioner James Dauris as the Chief Guest.

In his welcome address, Prothero acknowledged that the last nine months were difficult times for Sri Lanka, especially with the constitutional crisis and the Easter Sunday attacks. He noted that the economy was showing resilience, although he also suggested it would take 12 to 15 months for tourism and leisure to rebound. 

In the meantime, the Council has continued organising highly successful events, including breakfast meetings, and has also been promoting its English Language Teaching program in rural areas.

Speaking about the CBB’s forward plans, he stated that the Council will soon launch the Bilateral Trade and Investment Report, which will encourage bilateral trade between the two countries. The report was prepared with insight from the CBB membership.

Furthermore, the Council is focusing on strengthening its social media presence, and has hired a business consultant to provide insights to promote trade and tourism.

“When reflecting on the year overall, it has been successful and we look forward to continuing it,” Prothero said.

Also addressing the gathering, High Commissioner Dauris asked those present to consider what people in their positions can do to speed the development of a more favourable business climate in Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka was ranked 100th out of 190 in last year’s World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index. That’s to say that it wasn’t in the top half which, I’m sure we’ll all agree, is where it needs to be,” he observed.

The High Commissioner had five suggestions to share, which he felt would help Sri Lanka develop further. The first was that each person had to play a responsible role in encouraging and fostering a favourable climate for entrepreneurial activity, and for companies needed to establish and follow principled standards. The second was to promote professionalism, and enhance the level of integrity and ethical business conduct, while pushing the same for the government. His third recommendation was to encourage competition.

“Freer trade, lower barriers, less protectionism, more dependable enforcement of contracts, simpler property registration rules are some of the keys,” he elaborated.

The fourth was to beat competition by living up to high global standards. The High Commissioner’s fifth and final recommendation was on the importance of being supportive.

“As senior business managers and leaders, you have key roles to play in holding the government and others to account. Hand in hand with this responsibility goes a responsibility for supporting the government, for sharing the good advice you can give that will inform wise decision-making, for standing with the government when it wants to take sensible steps but is meeting opposition,” he said.

Following the speeches, three office bearers were appointed. Vice President: John Keells Holdings PLC Executive Vice President Roshanie Jayasundera Moraes; Vice President: Unilever Sri Lanka Chairman Carl Cruz  and Treasurer: Inter Air & Sea Logistics Ltd. Group Managing Director Tania Polonnowita Wettimuny

The CBB’s committee members are as follows: Aitken Spence Travels Ltd. Vice President Prasanjit Perera Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Sivakrishnarajah Renganathan; Etihad Airways General Manager R Dougie Douglas; Finlays Colombo Limited Deputy Chairman/Country Head Gihan Jayasinghe; Hayleys PLC Director Sarath Ganegoda; Hilton Colombo Residences General Manager Linda Giebing; Hirdaramani (Industries) Ltd. Director Nikhil Hirdaramani; MAS Holdings Ltd Chief Operating Officer Shirendra Lawrence; Norfolk Foods Ltd Director Ameena M Ziauddin and Oceanpick Ltd Managing Director – Irfan Thassim. Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Assistant Secretary-General Cherryl Rodrigo will represent the Secretariat of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.