Organization of Professionals will host the 35th Annual Conference and the 3rd National APEX awards of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) on August 16, 2022 at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel, Colombo with the theme “EXPANDING THE HORIZONS FOR EFFECTIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND GOOD GOVERNANCE”.
Technical Sessions will be held on August 17.
President OPA, Dulitha Perera said that though the theme ‘GOOD GOVERNANCE’ was a highly used word in recent times the objective of good governance is yet to see the light of the day. “This is why we decided to continue with this theme as well.”
He also said that it’s not a secret that there is a ‘brain drain’ in Sri Lanka similar to that of the 1970 to 1977 era. “This can be attributed to the weakening of the rupee and strengthening of the US dollar which makes earnings made overseas more valuable than earnings in Sri Lanka. When one thinks in that context we cannot blame the youth who are migrating for overseas employment and don’t see a reason to stop them.”
Asked to comment on the proposal by the government to divert some of the excess Public staff to work in private institutions he said that this is a very good proposal and they are fully supportive of it.
“But we must also emphasis that the public sector is not entirely a ‘write off’ as there are very good public institutions who perform creditably. Ruchira Gunasekara, Conference Chair and President Elect of the OPA presented the theme and the logo of the conference yesterday. “The theme of the conference presents a unique canvas to consider the need for Economic Growth within the Good Governance framework promoting and challenging the professionals and the general public in the present-day context,” she said.
The eight precepts enshrined with the Good Governance are Participation, Rule of Law, Transparency, Responsiveness, Consensus Oriented, Equity and Inclusiveness, Effectiveness and Efficiency, and Accountability are embedded in the logo.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, will be the Chief Guest and Speaker, Minister of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, will be the Guest of Honour at the opening. Sri Lanka conventions Bureau, Sri Lanka Institute of Bankers, Commercial and National Saving Bank are the main sponsors of the event. (SS)
Add new comment