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The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), has chosen "Regaining Sri Lanka and Beyond" as the theme for its Annual Convention from October 16 to 18 at the Colombo Plaza Hotel.

The CCC Annual Convention 2003 is being organised for the fourth year in succession. The CCC Annual Conventions, which have become eagerly awaited events in the Sri Lankan business calendar are part of the Chamber's efforts to identify and address future trends and assist businesses in developing strategic plans. The Chamber believes that the business community derives optimum benefits for organisational development by actively participating in these deliberations.

'Regaining Sri Lanka' presents the government's strategy to meet the economic challenges facing the country and to put the economy on a path to reap the benefits of a vibrant economy. The "Regaining Sri Lanka" policy document has ambitious targets for the country. It targets to achieve an annual growth rate of 10% on a sustained basis and to create two million new employment opportunities.

'Much of the onus of delivering this, needless to say, befalls on the private sector, which has been assigned the role of key economic agent for the economy. This is a tremendous challenge and responsibility for the private sector. We therefore believe that it is timely to focus on this important theme at our forthcoming Convention," said Prof. Lakshman Watawala, Chairman of the Convention Sub Committee of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

"At this forum we will have presentations on key strategic initiatives and discuss the modalities of achieving these goals. In addition we will identify priority action programs to set the pace for Sri Lanka to emerge as the centre for growth in the region," Prof. Watawala said.

There will be two keynote addresses at the inauguration of the Convention. The keynote address on the theme, "Challenges for Economic Development", will be delivered by Krishan Modi, President, Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry, President of the Indian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce and Ex Chairman, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The other keynote address at the inauguration will be delivered by Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman, Banyan Tree Group Chairman, Wah Chang Group Chairman, Singapore Management University, Board Director, Singapore Airlines Ltd., Main Board Director, Standard Chartered Bank plc, Director, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Ping will speak on "The Singapore Development Experience".

The technical sessions of the Convention will fall into two broad areas: Strategies for achieving double digit economic growth and the role of the private sector in infrastructure development. The first day's technical session will focus attention on Growth strategy for Sri Lanka-removing barriers to productivity implementation, Government reforms to achieve efficiency in the public and private sector, need for political stability and Law and Order - role of international lending agencies and Trade Policy and Free Trade Agreements - Growth through Foreign Direct Investment, A strategy for the development of the ICT sector - financing infrastructure projects, reliable and low cost power, shipping port development.

The program on the second day will comprise Finance and financial services - Sri Lanka as a financial hub for the region, Commercial Banking and competitive financing, project financing for industry and the role of institutional investors in the development of the capital market, Competitiveness and value addition-transforming traditional agriculture into commerce ventures, tea and plantation sector, value added exports and tourism-niche products to spur growth.

Among the eminent experts who will make presentations are Dato Jega Jegathesan, Former Deputy Director General, Malaysian Investment Development Authority, Senior Investment Advisor UNCTAD and Senior Investment Technology Advisor UNIDO Asia Africa Investment Technology Promotion centre. Jegathesan will deliver the keynote address on the first day of the technical session of the convention. He will speak on "Strategic Action Initiatives for Economic Development - The Far Eastern experience and the Malaysian Model"

The keynote address on the second day's technical session will be delivered by R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd., Chennai, India. Seshasayee will speak on "South Asian Strategies for Strong Economic Growth and Progress".

Explaining the benefits that participants will derive, Prof. Watawala said that they will be able to learn more about 'Regaining Sri Lanka' from the experts who were responsible for the preparation of the policy document and be exposed to the views in this context by business leaders, they will be able to learn from the experiences of other countries in applying policy changes in Sri Lanka from prominent foreign keynote speakers, Understand the role of the government and private sector in implementation, - Identify bottlenecks to economic development and methods of overcoming them, gain an opportunity to discuss and make suggestions to accelerate growth in their business sector/economy, they will be able to identify actions that need to be expedited to facilitate rapid economic development and meet participants from diverse sectors and gain the opportunity to network with them.

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