SL Economic Summit 2019 opens today

The country’s foremost economic event, Sri Lanka Economic Summit (SLES) 2019, kicks off at Cinnamon Grand Colombo, today. 

The two-day event is themed around Recalibrating Sri Lanka’s Economic Trajectory Towards 2025, to guide Sri Lanka’s journey towards development and prosperity.

Today’s event brings together over 450 local and international participants consisting of prominent business leaders, policymakers and experts, who play a key role in shaping national development in their respective countries. 

The event will also be graced by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the chief guest and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, as the guest of honour. 

Penning a message for the SLES, Wickremesinghe stated that having a concrete idea on how to move forward is one of the ways to contribute to national development.

“I would like to encourage the private sector to become more closely involved in these endeavours and congratulate the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for the leading role they played,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ceylon Chamber Chairman Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya believes that through the adoption of a strategically chosen set of policy levers, an elevated focus on execution across government and private sectors and an unwavering belief in inclusive development, Sri Lanka’s economy could reach US $ 134 billion by 2025, from the present-day US $ 89 billion. 
Reiterating Dr. Wijayasuriya’s message, Ceylon Chamber CEO Dhara Wijayatilake stated that the chamber plays a pivotal role in contributing to discourse that must be had in policy formulation. 

“We will shortly share with the policymakers our own proposals to achieve what we believe are the national economic targets that should be sought to be achieved by 2025,” she added.

The summit’s keynote session will be anchored on Recalibrating Sri Lanka’s Economic Trajectory and will be addressed by Wickremesinghe and Samaraweera. The welcome note and an introduction of the Ceylon Chamber’s 2020-2025 Economic Acceleration Framework will be delivered by Dr. Wijayasuriya. 

The speeches will be followed by a panel discussion, which includes the keynote speakers, Shri Suresh Prabhu, former Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation of Government of India and Official Emissary of Prime Minister of India in the G7 & G20 Forum, Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy and Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies Executive Director Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja.