Gamini Marambe elected new President of JASTECA
View(s):At the recently held Annual General Meeting, Gamini Marambe was elected the new President of the Japan Sri Lanka Technical and Cultural Association (JASTECA) for a two-year term of office. Nimal Perera who steered the Association previously stepped down and will remain in the executive committee as the Immediate Past President, the association said in a media release.
Group photo of the committee: Seated left to right - Jithendra Gunatilake (Treasurer), Nimal Perera (Past President), Gamini Marambe (President), Tilak De Zoyza (Vice Patron), Ambassador Akira Sugiyama (Patron), Dayasiri Warnakulasooriya (Vice Patron), Chandana Amaratunga (Snr Vice President), Mangala Samarajeewa (Vice President) and Anuruddha Gamage (General Secretary). (Standing left to right) - Nirosh De Silva (Asst. Secretary), Tyrell Roche (Asst. Treasurer), Ms. Damayanthi Rajapakse (Committee Member), Thilina Tippalagama (Committee Member), Nishantha Gunasekara (Committee Member) and Sunil Ratnayake (Committee Member).
At the ceremonial sessions that followed, Chief Guest, Japanese Ambassador Akira Sugiyama spoke about an investment seminar held in September 2019 by JETRO and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka in Japan which received a favourable response from over 200 Japanese entrepreneurs and expected further investment relationship between both countries. He also stated that Japan has contributed US$9.6 million which includes medical equipment to Sri Lanka to fight COVID-19.
The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Buddhi Marambe on Modern Trends of Agricultural Production. He presented how agricultural production has substantially increased in this country through scientific interventions and efforts of the policy makers and researchers of the government over the past several decades.
In his inaugural address the new President Gamini Marambe outlined how he benefited from his initial training in Japan and how he re-oriented the management of the companies he managed with several Japanese management concepts and techniques which resulted in significant improvements to the production process and the bottom line. He spelled out the most well-known Japanese practices that have made Japan a unique country, and how Sri Lankans could benefit from adopting these practices.
Noting that JASTECA is a well recognised association in Japan, Mr. Marambe said he would introduce many aspects of good governance and transparency and implement several new techniques of transferring Japanese management techniques and an experience of Japanese culture to Sri Lanka in the current COVID-19 constrained environment.
The new Committee consists of the following: Patron – Ambassador of Japan in Sri Lanka; Vice Patrons – Dayasiri Warnakulasooriya and Tilak de Zoysa; President – Gamini Marambe; Immediate Past President – Nimal Perera;
Senior Vice President – Chandana Amaratunga; Vice President – Mangala Samarajeewa; General Secretary – Anuruddha Gamage; Treasurer – Jithendra Gunatilake; Asst. Secretary – Nirosh De Silva; Asst. Treasurer – Tyrell Roche; Committee Members – Sunil Ratnayake, Nishantha Gunasekara, Damayanthi Rajapakse and Thilina Tippalagama.