On Thursday the 22nd of June 2017, the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) held their Annual Membership Meeting (AMM) with over 85 members present at this momentous evening when the leadership of the Institute changed hands. Mrs. Shiromal Cooray completed her term as Chairperson and at the AMM Mr. Preethi Jayawardena was elected unanimously as the new Chairman of SLID for the year 2017/18.
The other officials elected to the Council of members for the year 2017/18 were Mr. Rasakantha Rasiah as Senior Vice Chairman, Mr. Faizal Salieh as Vice Chairman and Ms. Dilani Alagaratnam, Ms. Aroshi Nanayakkara, Mr. Dinesh Weerakkody, Mr. Prakash Schaffter and Mr. Vish Govindasamy. Mr. Dilshan Rodrigo was elected to fill the vacancy created by Council Member Ms. Nilanthi Sivapragasagam.
The Annual Report and Financial Statements for the period ending 31st March 2017 were presented and approved by the membership.
In his first address as Chairman of SLID, Mr Preethi Jayawardena acknowledged the many contributions made by past Council Members to the development of SLID. He reminisced that when SLID started in the early 2000s, meetings were held at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC). At that time people used to question whether SLID was a part of the Chamber of Commerce! Mr. Jayawardena spoke of how Ms. Shiromal Cooray had one day said to him “enough is enough!” and together with the others had assisted in making SLID an independent entity. At that time seed capital was provided by the Carsons Group, Chemanex, Hatton National Bank, Jetwing Group and John Keells Group in aid to establish and develop SLID as an independent body.
The new Chairman stressed on how the promotion of gender diversity within SLID has helped bring the organization even further with more drive and fresh ideas. Prideful of how far the organization had come, Mr. Jayawardena jokingly remarked that people now ask him if the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is part of SLID!
Speaking of the economy of Sri Lanka, Mr. Jayawardena stressed on the importance of foreign direct investment and how it is essential in the expansion of the country’s economic growth. He said “the abundance of resources present in Sri Lanka and the converse lack of foreign funding do not match up well, given the potential for growth displayed by our private sector”. He also stated that SLID aspires to be a driving force to improve the conditions of our economy, even more than it already has, in order to change the conditions of the economy “slowly, but surely!”
In his opening remarks Chief Guest for the evening Hon Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama. thanked SLID for the contributions it had made in the improvement of the economy of Sri Lanka. He asserted that the prevailing government strongly believes that “the private sector is the motor of growth”. He urged the members of SLID to continue the growth in their companies which would help the country as a whole.
Dr. Amunugama explained that Sri Lanka’s unique social structure makes way for a different structure of ownership which is different from the known structure of where the rich and powerful run all of the private sector, to one where many invest and participate at the top level of the private sector and collectively reap the benefits of its growth; moving the private sector regime of Sri Lanka from capitalistic moguls to that of modern corporations. He further stated that the prevailing government are looking into ways to further push this model on the population to encourage collective growth. The issue faced however is how to keep the returns from investment at a more attractive rate than offered by the prevailing savings system offered by banks.
Speaking on the opportunities opening up for the growth of trade and industry in the Asian region, the Honourable Minister pointed to the regional growth in population, especially in India which has an rapidly increasing middle class. This of course, opens many doors in terms of markets to enter and profit from for the private sector of Sri Lanka. Dr. Amunugama made it a salient and recurring point in his speech to emphasize Sri Lanka’s strategic positioning in the midst of the Indian Ocean which is the country’s prized asset that needs to be better utilized.
In order to take advantage of its strategic position, Dr. Amunugama spoke of the free trade agreement between Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. Even more importantly, he stated that the Government is currently in the process of negotiating free trade agreements with Pakistan, the remainder of the SAARC region and China, as well as a conditional trade agreement with Japan.
According Minister Amunugama, Sri Lanka’s traditional agricultural exports only account for less than one quarter of Sri Lanka’s overall exports. Given this state, the Government is looking into substantially increasing the volume of production based and ICT based exports, which requires a proactive and growing private sector.
Speaking on FDI, the Minister stated that the current level of FDI in Sri Lanka stands at only four hundred million US Dollars. However, he stated that plans are put in place to start a free trade zone in Hambantota along with the port, which is expected to bring in a further two billion US Dollars.
In conclusion the Minister stated that the directors of Sri Lanka have a lot more to contribute to for the future of the country.
The evening was concluded with cocktails which was a lively and engaging round of fellowship among the best business minds of the country with wishes for an even better year to come for SLID with a new team at the helm.