31^st Annual General Meeting The Sri Lanka - Canada Business Council

The 31^st Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka – Canada Business Council (SLCBC) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was held recently. Mr. Daniel Bood, Counsellor for Political & Trade at the High Commission of Canada graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Mr. Priyantha Padmasiri Chandrasekara, Chairman of Thames International Educational Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd was elected as the President of the Council for the year 2022-2023.

Mr. Chandrasekara addressing the gathering stated that “It has been challenging to establish bilateral commercial partnerships with Canada over the past year because of the Covid 19 outbreak and the ongoing political turmoil in Sri Lanka. To increase the number of members engaged in business between Canada and Sri Lanka, the Committee Members will arrange more events, primarily in the development of membership, with the aid of trade fairs, business seminars, webinars, and bilateral trade investments with Canada.”

Mr. Chandrasekara assured the members that the Sri Lanka – Canada Business Council under his leadership will continue with the new plan of action to further enhance tourism, education, travel & ticketing, IT consulting, travel and insurance as well as export/import businesses between Sri Lanka and Canada. In his closing remarks, Mr. Chandrasekara expressed his sincere thanks to Mr. Daniel Bood, Counsellor for Political & Trade at the High Commission of Canada for gracing the occasion.

Mr. Daniel Bood, began his remarks by congratulating the SLCBC on its 31^st year of operations, referring to some of his observations since his arrival in the country in July 2021, a time when the country was yet battling COVID-19 and the government was undertaking an aggressive vaccination campaign. He noted that at that time, there were also increasing warning signs that Sri Lanka’s growing economic malaise would soon explode into a full-blown economic crisis that had been long in the making.

Mr. Bood relayed that Canada is considering to mobilize Canadian expertise to support badly hit micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), particularly those owned by women in Sri Lanka’s North and East, to help improve their access to much-needed capital to weather the economic crisis. Given that the economic crisis has also exacerbated cases of sexual and gender-based violence, Canada will continue to help strengthen Sri Lanka’s women’s rights organizations and women-led MSMEs, while addressing sexual gender based violence (SGBV) by supporting survivors and the service providers that assist them.

At the same time, Mr. Bood indicated that the High Commission is pursuing collaboration opportunities between Canadian and Sri Lankan institutions in the education field that he hopes will bear fruit in the not too distant future. Mr. Bood said that he looked forward to working with the SLCBC in the coming months to contribute to that transition from the perspective of bilateral trade and investment.

Mr. Ong Jhon Seon, General Manager of Prima Ceylon (Pvt) Limited and Capt. Gayan Gunawardane, Chief Operating Officer of Ceyline Shipping Pvt Ltd were elected as the Vice Presidents while Mr. Rajendra Abeyasinghe, Chief Operating Officer of Hydromec International (Pvt) Ltd serves as the Immediate Past President.

Mr. Jehan Perinpanayagam, Chief Executive Officer of Infomate (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Mahesh Kurukulasuriya, Group Chief Commercial Officer of McLarens Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Mohomad Hameez, Managing Director of Spillburg Holdings Pvt Ltd, Mr. Dhilan Mitchell, Chief Operating Officer of Fairfirst Insurance Ltd and Ms.Dilanka Herath, Manager of United Ventures Pvt Ltd were elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Council for the period 2022-2023.

Further details regarding membership of the Council and its activities could be obtained from the Secretariat of the Sri Lanka – Canada Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce by E-mail: trade@chamber.lk or Tel. 5588881, 5588800.