Sri Lanka has the potential to be a Colombo to India as much as Hong Kong to China, said Jagath Pathirane, new Chairman Sri Lanka Logistics & Freight Forwarders Association(SLFFA) addressing the 36th AGM in Colombo recently.
At the same time Sri Lanka as a nation has a lot of catching up to do while neighboring countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam are far ahead, he cautioned.
“We are no doubt in a very volatile market situation. The challenges before us are so dynamic and complex.
We are no longer a small player in the international arena. To be more precise, we have the potential to be Colombo to India as much as Hong Kong to China,” he said.
Pathirane said that it was very encouraging to note the initiative taken by the Ministry of Ports and Shipping recently to formulate a National Policy for the Shipping and Maritime Sector and expressed hope that there would be a mechanism to include aviation, road transportation and logistics sectors in to it.
“We have a list of unclear challenges such as the need for a single window for ease of doing business on a well defined policy framework as a game changer for Sri Lanka, the need for policy and guidelines on emerging e-commerce and online consumerism on movement of goods purchased online, the need for acceptance of digital signature and promotion of a paperless concept and requirement of recognizing and establishing a Dry Port for all ocean freight inbound cargo,” he said.
“As the list goes on, all these are limited to dreams and fancy words, and we must endeavour to achieve these goals if we are to progress in our industry.”
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