Economic Association 30th anniversary annual sessions kick off on 30 Oct.

The Sri Lanka Economic Association will celebrate its 30th anniversary at its annual sessions which take place on 30 and 31 October.

For these annual sessions, the SLEA has once again chosen a theme of topical interest, ‘Policy Reforms for Sustained High Growth’. President Maithripala Sirisena will inaugurate the sessions on 30 October. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva will deliver the keynote address.  

Four technical sessions will be held on 31 October on ‘Domestic Resources and Increasing Debt’, ‘Productivity and Competitiveness’, ‘Enabling Environment and Foreign Direct Investment’ and ‘Institutional and Regulatory Framework’. 

At the technical sessions eminent economists and important stakeholders will examine each subtheme systematically. Dr. Saman Kelegama will make a presentation on Debt Financed Investments; Dr. De Silva Athurupana will speak on Education Reforms for Development. Prof. Ajith de Alwis and Dr. Ganeshamoorthy will respectively present papers on Innovation and Technology and Policy Reforms and Incentives for Trade. Prof. Siri Hettige and W.A. Wijewardhane will speak on Political Stability and Social Integration, and Good Governance and Political Leadership respectively. Effective Public Institutions and Regulatory Framework under the broad subtheme of Institutional and Regulatory Framework will be respectively addressed by Damitha Kumarasinghe and Dr. Bandula Perera. 

A special feature this year will be three presentations by Prof. Yoshitaka Kawagoshi, Prof. Shiro Takeda and Prof. Hitoshi Osaka representing three universities in Japan, presenting Japan’s experience relating to the key subthemes of the sessions.