I was very privileged for a remarkable opportunity in presenting a thematic paper and competing for Quizonomics at the 6th South Asian Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM) held in Dhaka last year. It was not only an academic conference where undergraduates presented papers with questions and answers, but also helped to cultivate beyond the country boundary among the South Asian youth. As an undergraduate at the 6th SAESM in Bangladesh, my experiences were distinctive and unique. I totally forgot the stage fear when I presented the paper and responded to the questions from the audience without any hesitation.
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| Chathurika Hettiarachchi |
We were overjoyed with the success of our colleague Shanaz Saleem for winning the prize for the best thematic paper. Every one of us had the feeling of being members of a same family of the budding South Asia’s economists, though we were competing and challenging each other to prove ourselves as the best.
Apart from academic performances, we had meaningful discussions, grand refreshments and a fantastic retreat to Cox Bazaar, a fabulous coastal area surrounded with huge mountains in Bangladesh. As a team we traveled long miles, shared our thoughts, cared and committed for each other, danced and sang in the fire night at the world’s most beautiful and longest beach.
We smiled for hours, cracking jokes with strangers who ultimately became our own brothers and sisters thanks to SAESM 2009. We tasted the concepts and models of Economics as well as natural beauty and wonderful culture of Bangladesh with our own team represented South Asian young minds.
I can still remember the 4th SAESM in 2007, hosted by Sri Lanka. At that time I was a 2nd year student in the university and it was an impressive conference that I have ever seen in my life and as a fresher to the world of Economics I was inspired by the gathering, which encouraged me a lot with determination to be a one of the competitors at SAESM. I was lucky to be provided this golden opportunity that year.
Synergism is always bigger than collective individualism that leads to great victories anywhere in the world. We really saw the practical aspect of teamwork at the SAESM and that always has proven to be the best. Conferences of this nature create very good kinship beyond the borders and by now we are sharing, circulating and updating the ideas about the forthcoming conference via the face book and e-mails.
As a former participant in the previous years and one of the organizers from the staff in the Department of Economics at the University of Colombo this year I am grateful to Professor Sirimal Abeyratne, the country coordinator who navigates the conference every year with tremendous effort and enthusiasm and also other staff member, student organizers and all sponsors who work so hard to make this event a success. I wish that the forthcoming SAESM will be much more successful and an unforgettable event which will speak not only about South Asia but also about the entire globe. I also wish to emphasize on strong relationships between South Asia’s promising economic youth and Sri Lanka with its hospitality would like to extend our support for hosting this nature of events in future as well.
(The writer is a an organizer of this year’s summit and is currently working as an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Colombo). |
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