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| Saturday, 7 February 2004 |
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Call to adopt national shipping policy by Sudarshana Perera Political leaders and shipping professionals outlined the importance of regulating the Sri Lankan shipping industry to provide a quality service to face global competition while adopting shipping policy collectively drafted by government officials and shipping industry professionals to improve the industry. This collective call was made during the Institute Chartered Shipbrokers - Sri Lanka (ICS) branch "Annual Award Ceremony" and the launch of its website at the Colombo Plaza Hotel this week. Special emphasis was laid on the need of producing more academically qualified shipping professionals in the country to be on par with global standards. "The government has given priority to develop more shipping hubs in Sri Lanka as the industry is a highly revenue generating sector for the country", said Minister of Power and Energy Karu Jayasuriya. "So the government has decided to construct the Colombo South and Hambantota Harbours while upgrading existing hubs to attract more shipping lines to the country" Minister Jayasuriya said. He commended and thanked the International Institute Chartered Shipbrokers for selecting Sri Lanka to hold its Executive Council Meeting for the first time here. "I thank you all for the confidence reposed in Sri Lanka" he said. Minister Jayasuriya was also conferred the honorary membership of the Institute of Chartered Ship Brokers. Leader of the Opposition, Mahinda Rajapakse said that Sri Lanka being strategically located as the centre for busiest sea route has attractive potentials to emerge as the mega hub in the whole region. We as a top priority should develop more harbours to reap potentials. "We have not shown a keen interest to properly train shipping personnel. The global trend is advanced each day. If we fail to recognise this fact, the quality will decline in a highly competitive environment. So the government should take action to regulate the shipping industry to create a more conducive background to further develop the industry ", he said. Chairman of ICS- Sri Lanka branch , Maxwell de Silva said that ICS-Sri Lanka branch will expand its educational services to generate more qualified shipping professionals in Sri Lanka. De Silva said that his institution in keeping with ICS-UK wish has achieved a 10% growth and they would continue to record further growth making ICS a dynamic intuition in Sri Lanka. "We have also come out with a "Shipping Scholarship Fund" to allow non-affordables especially for the personnel living out of Colombo to be trained as qualified shipping professionals." I hope that this fund will encourage to attract more people to our institution. This "Shipping Scholarship Fund" is jointly funded by ICS-Sri Lanka and ICS-London which also donated shipping books to its Sri Lankan branch. It has been named as "M.H.M. Ashraff Memorial Shipping Scholarship Fund". Vice President ICS-UK Richard Sayer said that their institute will contribute to improve the standards of shipping professionals through its branch here. "We have taken a keen interest to work with you closely to help achieve your aspirations to develop the shipping industry in Sri Lanka", said Sayer. Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara delivering the key note address outlined ways to upgrade knowledge and training to manage the paradigm shifts taking place locally and internationally." Today the shipping is intergrading with other sectors continuously, So you have got to walk with the global mind set " Prof. Nanayakkara said. Certificates and awards were presented to those who successfully completed the course of studies in shipping at the ICS -Sri Lanka branch. Ship Brokers , Agents and shipping lines were also awarded with trophies for the outstanding services done in Sri Lanka. The Deputy High Commissioner of Britain Peter Hills, First Secretary of Royal Norwegian Embassy, Christian Fougner, Director General ICS-UK Alan Philips, The Chairman of Colombo Ports, Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake and were among those present. |
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