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CIMA
World Conference starts today
World-class speakers, eminent panellists, CIMA presidents,
international divisional directors, the council of Sri Lanka
division, CIMA members and distinguished guests will gather
at the BMICH this evening (May 28 at 6.00 p.m.) to attend
the inauguration of the first ever CIMA World Conference.
This year’s conference, the first of its kind, is based
around four distinct pillars, focusing on the highly relevant
areas of Peace building, Innovation, Global branding and Leadership.
The four day event, will begin this evening with an introduction
to the conference, touching on the theme of ‘Igniting
passion, blazing trails’, from CIMA Sri Lanka President
Aruna Fernando.
The keynote speaker, Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, Federal Minister and
Chairman of the Higher Education Commission and Advisor to
the Prime Minster of Pakistan for Science and Technology,
the first Scientist from the Muslim world to have won the
prestigious UNESCO science prize, will give his address to
the attendees, before enjoying cocktails to start the conference
off in true celebratory style.
Friday evening also sees the inclusion of an exclusive President’s
dinner at the Cinnamon Grand hotel to mark the occasion of
the CIMA Global President, Gordon Grant’s visit to Sri
Lanka.
On Thursday, speaking on Peace building will be John Hume,
who out of uncertainties, is regarded as one of the most important
figures in the modern political history of Northern Ireland
and one of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process;
Professor Kader Asmal, lecturer, barrister and human rights
activist, and Dave Steward, of the Frederick Willem De Klerk
Foundation to promote peace, democracy and development, both
from South Africa, speaking about the resolve of age-old conflict,
through initiating and managing the transformation process;
and Professor Tissa Vitarana, Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Minister
for the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Friday will cover the Innovation and Global branding pillars,
with Dr Atta-ur-Rahman leading the innovation discussions,
and describing how the developments of the Pakistan education
infrastructure have driven change, and the lessons that can
be learnt for other developing economies. Ms Samina Rizwan,
Regional Director, SAGE West, who was instrumental in bringing
Oracle solutions to Pakistan; Dr Bettina von Stamm, Founder
of Innovation Leadership Forum Ltd, and expert in turning
creativity into innovative, commercially viable ideas; and
Thusitha Ranasinghe, Managing Director of Maximus Private
Ltd, patent holders for the innovation of elephant dung paper
creations, will speak on innovation.
Global branding speakers include, Peter Jones, noted creative
enabler and entrepreneurial brand strategist, speaking on
how to create global brands in an era where traditional marketing
concepts are not working; R. Ravimohan, one of India’s
50 most powerful people in ‘India Today’, and Managing
Director and Region Head, South Asia, Standard & Poor’s,
Asia’s foremost global provider of financial market intelligence,
presenting on sustaining global brand interest; and Sri Lanka’s
own, Merrill J. Fernando, Founder and Chairman of MJF Group,
and the Dilmah tea brand, now established in New Zealand and
82 countries around the world, will tell his success story.
On the final morning on the conference, the topic Leadership
will be covered by some of the most qualified and highly regarded
leaders in the world. Peter Velappan, Project Director, Vision
Asia and former Secretary General of the Asian Football Confederation,
where he proved to be a visionary leader by transforming Asia’s
attitude towards soccer and the world’s attitude towards
Asian soccer; Cao Yuanzheng, Managing Director and Chief Economist
of Bank of China International Holdings Company, was notably
at the forefront of the Chinese economic reform; Norman Lyle,
Independent Director, Standard Chartered Bank. Former Group
FD of Jardine Matheson, he steered the company through events
as serious as Asia’s currency crisis and the outbreak
of SARS; and Jehangir S Pocha, Editor, Businessworld, Indian’s
bestselling business magazine, will be describing what makes
the top Indian corporate leaders stand out from crowd.
This conference gives the opportunity to showcase Sri Lanka
as a centre for international conferences and endorses the
capabilities and skills within the CIMA fraternity in organising
and successfully implementing a world-class event. Also the
benefits of learning from some of the today’s most influential
leaders, and witness them sharing their thoughts and views
on areas most critical to Sri Lanka as with Peace, Innovation,
Global Branding and Leadership.
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