SLEA Annual Sessions to focus on agriculture and industry

The hallmark event of the Sri Lanka Economic Association (SLEA), the SLEA Annual Sessions 2017, will focus on policies required to modernize the country’s agriculture and industry sectors.

“Over the past few years we deliberated on macroeconomic issues like debt and fiscal policy, so we thought we should this year focus on the real sector of the economy, on agriculture and industry,” SLEA President Dr. Upananda Vidanapathirana said during a media briefing.

With agriculture taking up around 65 percent of total cultivable land, and 30 percent of the labour pool, but contributing around 7-8 percent to the country’s economy, SLEA Vice President Chandrasena Maliyadde said that past agriculture policies need to be revisited.

“We need to see whether the past policies were conducive for fully utilizing the resources and potential in agriculture,” he said.

A host of academics and private sector experts will speak at SLEA on how to modernize the agriculture and industry sectors to compete in the global markets.

The 31st edition of the SLEA Annual Sessions will take place at the Central Bank’s Centre for Banking Studies in Rajagiriya. The inauguration will take place this Friday, and the technical sessions will follow on Saturday.

The Asian Development Bank’s latest publication on Sri Lanka, ‘The Sri Lankan Economy: Charting a New Course’ will also be launched at the SLEA 
Annual Sessions.