Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Sri Lanka to host major int’l conference on transport in September

President of the EASTS, Prof. Tetsuo Yai and the Deputy Secretary General of the EASTS, Prof. Shinya Hanaoka of Japan, Prof. Amal Kumarage, Namalie Siyambalapitiya Director-Planning of Road Development Authority with Minister John Amaratunga.

EASTS 2019, the 13th international conference of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS), jointly organized by the Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics (SLSTL) will be held from September 9 to 12 at Waters Edge, Battaramulla. Over 500 participants including 400 foreign delegates will attend the conference.

This year’s conference is themed “Redesigning Transport & Logistics for the Rise of Asia”. Past conferences have attracted over 600 international delegates and run on 10 parallel tracks.

Founded in Japan in the year 1994 and currently enriched by 19 country partners, of which Sri Lanka is represented by the Sri Lanka Society for Transport and Logistics (SLSTL), since 2015. EASTS objectives are to foster and support excellence in transportation research and practice and to stimulate professional interchange in all aspects and modes of transportation. The conference will be chaired by Prof. Amal Kumarage, President of SLSTL.

The President of the EASTS, Prof. Tetsuo Yai and the Deputy Secretary General of the EASTS, Prof. Shinya Hanaoka of Japan made a special pre-conference assessment visit on Monday and met John Amaratunga, Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs to get firsthand knowledge on the ground situation following the Easter attacks.

The conference also consists of a National Advisory Committee (NAC), chaired by Sunil Hettiarachchi, Secretary to the Ministry of Highways and Road Development and Petroleum Resources Development and consists of professionals from the transport and logistics industry, from various organizations such as Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited, Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka, Institute of Supply and

Materials Management, National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Association for Political Economy, Sri Lanka Economic Association, Sri Lanka Forum of University Economists, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, University of Colombo, University of Jaffna, University of Moratuwa, University of Peradeniya, University of Ruhuna, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and Urban Development Authority.

The NAC will play a vital role in communicating strategic output of the international conference to the Government of Sri Lanka for the development of the transport, logistics and supply chain industry.

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