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Forum to promote Lanka, Finland business

A major business forum to promote Sri Lanka and Finland business activities will be held tomorrow at the Trans Asia Hotel.

Glen Lindholm, Ambassador of Finland accredited to Sri Lanka accompanied by his Minister Counsellor, Caj Soderlund, Pertti Huitu, Commercial Counsellor and Head of Finpro New Delhi and Harri Sallinen, Counsellor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland and the Advisor to Finnfund will address the Forum.

Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya, Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris will deliver a special address.

Most of the investors who will be attending the Forum will be from neighbouring countries where they have established successful business ventures.

The investors are from the sectors such as power and energy, health, infrastructure and construction, environment and heavy engineering field.

Paracetamol overpriced

Almost all leading brands of the popular painkiller Paracetamol are overpriced in the retail market, as manufacturers do not mark the maximum retail price on their products, the Department of Internal Trade said.

Acting Commissioner of Internal Trade, Janaka Sugathadasa said that Paracetamol ranks as the number one overpriced item in the retail market, followed by soft drinks. A paracetamol tablet is usually overpriced by 15 cents.

Sugathadasa said that the situation has resulted due to the manufacturer's unwillingness to mark the maximum retail price on their products.

Bourse on upward trend

Trading activities on the Colombo Bourse ended on an upward trend yesterday with the indices recording increases. The ASPI increased to 739 points from 731.3 and the Milanka index to 1,259.6 points from 1,237.1 the previous day.

The turnover was Rs. 59.67 million, an increase of Rs. 39.58 million the previous day. Stock brokers said that the Distilleries and Aitken Spence and Commercial Bank shares recorded increases.

Commercial Bank announced a bonus issue (I for 3) and Stafford Hotels announced a 4 percent interim dividend.

Hakeem to meet ship owners today

Port Development and Shipping Minister, Rauf Hakeem will meet ship owners today at the Ministry to discuss matters over the issue of a controversial gazette notice which allowed the exemption of the Master Divers (Pvt) Ltd vessels from the provisions of Section 114 (I) of the Merchant Shipping Act.

97% Gulf Air flights unaffected

Gulf Air, the national airline of Bahrain, Oman and the UAE said that 97 percent of its flights to 43 destinations are operating almost without disruption.

"Gulf Air's overall schedule for March 21 included 123 flights. Only four services - between Bahrain and Kuwait - were cancelled by the airline, and 83 percent of flights operated on time", said James Hogan, President and Chief Executive, Gulf Air.

Despite the conflict in the region, the airline remains committed to providing an efficient and excellent service with the dedication of more than 1,300 cabin crew, pilots and other staff while it continues to hope for a peaceful settlement to the current situation, it is thrusting ahead with its three-year strategic recovery plan.

"Our current performance figures are extremely encouraging and indicate that the comprehensive planning measures undertaken by the airline to safeguard against adversity and to ensure the complete safety of our passengers, our crews and our aircraft have resulted in a 'business as usual' climate for Gulf Air", Hogan said.

CIMA awards for three world prize winners

The bi-annual convocation of the CIMA Sri Lanka Division was held at the BMICH under the patronage of Jeremy Carter, Senior Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund.

While congratulating the young graduates, Carter said, "......to become a Management Accountant is important. It is training for business and commerce, to work in public sector policy making and Sri Lanka needs people like you. CIMA is a wonderful process and it gives the form of training, which is very useful to be leaders of tomorrow. Today we are looking for people who think. Think to do things better, in a way that will improve the situation".

Sudarshan Senaratne, President, CIMA Sri Lanka Division, delivering the welcome address said, "CIMA has been producing graduates who are highly employable. Employers, especially those in the private sector tend to give preference to our students. We are in this position not only because of our students' technical abilities, which they acquire by passing their examinations, but also because of their personal attributes. With these new developments and successes, the challenge will be to continue to maintain this High Employability tag".

Fifty-five recently elected Associate and Fellow members and 166 new passed finalists and prize winners at the November 2002 examination received their certificates and gold medals at the ceremony. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of awards to three world prize winners with two of the students achieving 99%. This is an improvement over the last convocation where there were two world prize winners. Pravir Samarasinghe, Deputy President, CIMA Sri Lanka Division proposed the vote of thanks.

SLID Young Director of the Year Award

The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) formed under the aegis of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in April 2000 will recognise one of its younger members as the SLID Young Director of the Year awards ceremony to be held in June. The eligibility criteria for this Award is limited to members of the Institute who are under 40 years. The selected member will receive the award at the Institute's third Annual General Meeting in June.

The Institute comprises over 700 private and public sector leaders.

One of the Institute's prime interests has been to find mechanisms to recognise the contributions made by "young" Directors to their companies and the country.

The Institute lead by Ranjit Fernando, Secretary to the Ministry of Enterprise Development and a team of professionals has conducted many events such as regular breakfast meetings, evening interactive sessions and discussions which have focused mostly on good corporate governance.

SLID now has its own newsletter, the Power Pages which reaches its entire membership quarterly.

The Institute is gearing itself to conduct many more activities for the benefit of members in the coming year and intends focusing on fulfilling at least some of the pressing needs for knowledge enhancement and information of its members.

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