Financial Times - 71st AGM of CCC's import sector

The import section of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) held its 71st Annual General Meeting recently at Galadari Hotel with Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal as the chief guest.

The section has a membership of over 115 companies engaged in imports.

Ranjan de Silva, newly elected Chairman of the Import Section, spoke on areas such as duty reforms, trade and tariff arrangements, infrastructure and interest rates. He said that the authorities should examine whether the objectives of introducing tariff reforms have actually been achieved as many compliant companies have observed that the higher tariff rates means more evasion and less revenue to the state.

Cabraal reassured the import business community of the government’s commitment to overcome the challenges in achieving economic prosperity. Infrastructure development projects such as the Wirawila Airport, Hambantota Harbour and Moragahakanda irrigation project were highlighted as several such projects targeted to be completed within President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s term.

The following were elected to serve on the committee for the period 2006/7: Ranjan de Silva, Deputy Managing Director, Associated Motorways ( Chairman), Mahesh Wijewardena, Commercial Director, Singer (Sri Lanka) ( Vice Chairman), K Kunendran, Abans, Gamini De Fonseka, Group Supplies Manager, Ceylon Biscuits, K. J. Rodrigo ,Manager-Imports & Exports, Chemical Industries (Colombo), Ajit Algama, Executive Director, Diesel & Motor Engineering, Panduka Jayawardena, Deputy General Manager – Logistics, David Pieris Motor, Navindra Abeysekera, General Manager-Business Development, Delmege Forsyth & Co, B. Dassanayake, Douglas & Sons, Kevin Edwards, E B Creasy & Co, Thilak de Silva, Hayleys, Rukman Sivaloganathan, HSBC, Suren Jacob, Vice President, Supply Chain Division, Nestle Lanka, Adrian Oswald, Shipping Manager, Richard Pieris & Company and C Pereira, Import & Export Manager, Unilever Ceylon.