High-profile international speakers at global export development forum in Sri Lanka
View(s):President Maithripala Sirisena and Minister of Development and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama will headline a list of high-profile speakers including policy makers, trade experts, trade analysts and global business leaders, at the World Export Development Forum (WEDF), scheduled to be held on October 12-13 in Colombo. The International Trade Centre (ITC) together with the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade of Sri Lanka, through the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), is hosting this event. Ms. Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director of the ITC, will join the President on the stage on the opening day. The first session on ‘When Regional Blocs Cross Oceans’, will see speakers of the calibre of Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat – Patricia Scotland,
Dr. Naushad Forbes – President of the Confederation of Indian Industries, Khurran Dastgir Khan – Pakistan’s Minister of Commerce, Mahesh Amalean – Chairman of MAS Holdings and Tony Nash – CEO and Chief Economist of Complete Intelligence from Singapore. The panel will be moderated by Amin Kazmin, Head of Office at the Financial Times Asia. The second plenary session will focus heavily on the rapid digitisation of trade and ecommerce success stories, with experts on the subject taking the stage as panellists. Day two of the conference will host the third plenary session titled ‘Standards, a Gateway to Global Markets’, with Upul Jayasuriya – Chairman of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, Jagdish Singla – Director / VP of Nestlé Sri Lanka,
Marion Jansen – Chief Economist of the ITC, Dr. Lucian Cernat – ChiefTrade Economist of The European Commission and Lanre Akinola – Editor of African Business. The discussion on ‘Authenticity: The New Tourism Destination’, will see Hiran Cooray – Chairman of Jetwing Sri Lanka, Pascal Khoo – Writer / Tourism Expert from Burma, Dr. Wolfgang Arlt – Director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute in Germany and Ms. Zoritsa Urosevic – Representative of the UN World Tourism Organisation as panellists. The session on “Trade Facilitation and Logistics in Regional Integration” will have Stefano Arganese – CEO of Central Eastern Europe and Middle Europe for DHL and Dr.Saman Kelegama – Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) as speakers.