The 1st SLFJBE Economic Summit 2019 themed “Strengthening the External Sector to achieve a 7% Economic Growth” was held on 15th August 2019 at the Center for Banking Studies (Central Bank of Sri Lanka), Rajagiriya. The summit was hosted by the Department of Business Economics, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP) on behalf of the Sri Lanka Forum of Junior Business Economists (SLFJBE).
The Inauguration Ceremony of the summit was held with the participation of an eminent gathering consists of Senior Professor Sampath Amaratunge, Vice-Chancellor, USJP as the Chief Guest, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as the Keynote Speaker, Dr. U. Anura Kumara, Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, USJP as the Guest of Honor, Dr. Dinesha Siriwardhane, Advisory Board Member and Head, Department of Business Economics, USJP, Senior Professor H. D. Karunarathne, Advisory Board Member of SLFJBE, Mr. Ramesh Rajasuriya, Head, Department of Business Economics, University of Colombo (UOC), several other Deans and Heads of USJP, lecturers from USJP, UOC and all other invited universities along with over 140 delegates.
The keynote speech of the inaugural ceremony was delivered by Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy under the theme of “Economic Outlook of Sri Lanka: Opportunities and Challenges”. Moreover, the first volume of the magazine of SLFJBE, “BIZCONTIER” was launched by the Department of Business Economics, UOC during the inaugural ceremony.
Inter-university competitions were started after the inauguration ceremony with the participation of delegates representing 14 teams from 10 local universities and 2 delegates representing foreign universities. The competitions included an Economic Debate, a Panel Discussion, a Critical Writing Competition, a Quiz Competition, and the Budding Economist Competition.
The third phase of the summit was dedicated for the Industry Forum themed “Strategic Partnerships: A Way Forward to win Global Markets”. The forum was enlightened with the participation of Sri Lanka’s leading businessmen namely, Mr. Dian Gomes, former Chairman of Hela Clothing, Dr. Harsha Subasinghe, President and CEO of CodeGen International, Dr. Ravi Liyanage, Chairman and CEO of Kingdom of Raigam along with Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Mr. M. K. S. K. Maldeni, Acting Additional Director General and Director-Export Services of the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka representing the policymaking bodies. The forum was moderated by Dr. Janak Kumarasinghe, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Business Economics, USJP. The discussion flowed with the participated industry leaders presenting their experience on building up strategic partnerships, sharing their journey up to date and policymakers representing the measures taken by the government on the aforementioned fact.
The awarding ceremony was held as the closing phase of the 1st SLFJBE Economic Summit 2019 where the overall championship was won by the team representing the Faculty of Business, University of Moratuwa. Winners and 1st runner upholders were awarded a scholarship worth Rs. 100,000 by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA).
