The 25th ICASL Students' National Conference saw a remarkable foreign participation with more than 20 delegates representing India, Pakistan and Nepal participating in the silver jubilee event held recently.
According to Mr. M. Ikraam Gaffoor - President of the Practising Accountants' Chartered Students' Society (PACSS) - the students' society of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL), this was the first time the ICASL student's annual conference witnessed such an impressive foreign participation.
"In the past, our conferences had seen only a handful of foreign students representing the region, and usually it's around three or four delegates, but for the first time we had some 20 foreign delegates at this year's event. This is a remarkable feat," he noted.

The conference held at Galadari Hotel, Colombo witnessed a record participation of nearly 700 delegates, centred around the theme 'Economic Renaissance'. "There was a tremendous increase in participation this year in comparison to past years. Usually we see around 525 delegates taking part, but this year it’s been nearly 700, and an encouraging representation of around 50 delegates from the non-audit sector," Mr. Gaffoor added.

Meanwhile, the visiting foreign delegates praised PACSS for a well organised conference which they said focused on a very 'topical' theme. Khurram Jah from ICA - Pakistan praised Sri Lanka's hospitality and friendliness while noting that the conference was a platform which highlighted different economic scenarios in the region.

"The conference demonstrated that most of our nations face similar economic problems, primarily centering around poverty and corruption," said Nadia Rahman also from ICA Pakistan.
Gayathri Dhevi from ICA India highlighted that the ICASL Students nationals' conference gave her the bigger picture on how things were happening in other parts of the world.

"We all seem to share the same problems and concerns," she said. She also congratulated PACSS for lining up such an eminent panel of speakers, who spoke on a diverse number of topics, which were of immense interest and knowledgeable to her and other foreign participants.

"This conference also gave me an opportunity to meet with fellow students from Pakistan, Nepal and India, and exchange our ideas on the present economic scenarios in our respective countries," she said.

Meanwhile, Anil Odari, who represented the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal, noted that the conference was an exercise in which he obtained knowledge on developments and issues in other parts of the world and the conference was an excellent platform for networking. This year's conference focused on the post war scenario of Sri Lanka and how the country's youth generation could contribute to the long-term development of our nation, in our strive to make Sri Lanka the 'Miracle of Asia.'

The keynote speaker at Wednesday's conference was Mr. Suren J. Amarasekara, CEO of Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd., who spoke on 'How leadership will promote economic renaissance.' The other speakers included Mr. Reyaz Mihular, Partner at KPMG Ford Rhodes Thornton & Co., who spoke on 'Challenges ahead - SLAS to IFRS', while Managing Director of Character Precepts Training Institute (Pvt) Ltd., Mr. Terry Unruh made a detailed presentation on 'HR strategies in an economic renaissance.'

Mr. Fouzul Hameed, Managing Director of Hameedia, elaborated on 'Dress attire in the corporate world', while Mr. Prema Cooray, Managing Director/CEO of Citrus Leisure PLC spoke on 'Leisure sector as a driver for economic renaissance.' The conference also featured a presentation by Central Bank Governor Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal.