The CASA Maritime Conference 2023 was held on 24th October at The Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo focusing on the theme ‘EMBARKING TOWARDS A BLUE HORIZON’ celebrating World Maritime Day 2023 which fell on 28th September.

The second session “Unlocking the potential of the Blue Economy” was conducted by YoungShip Sri Lanka and brought about many thought-provoking discussions on the sustainable development of the blue economy. The speaker for the session was CEO Standard Chartered Bank – Sri Lanka & Head of CCIB Client Coverage Mr. Bingumal Thewarathanthri.

Subsequently the session was followed by a panel discussion comprising of the session speaker and:

Mr. Mangala P. B. Yapa (Management Consultant), Mr. Kamal Dorabawila (Chief Investment Officer at IFC International Finance Corporation & Sector Lead for Transport & Logistics Asia- Pacific Region), Mr. Saliya Wickramasuriya (Chairman CPC, Member of the Board Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka Commission Member Colombo Port City Economic Commission, Chairman Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd), Dr. (Ms.) Vagisha Gunasekara (Senior Economist, United Nations Development Programme, Sri Lanka), Mr.  Ayesh Indranath Ranawaka (Executive Director – Institute of Ocean Resource Analysis (INORA), Editor in Cheif – Oceanlust Magazine)

The session was moderated by Ms. Dhashma Karunaratne (COO Freight Sector, Asst. Vice President – Business Development, Freight & Logistics Sectors Aitken Spence Shipping Ltd.) & Ms. Maleena Awn (Chairperson YoungShip Sri Lanka, Director Operations Meridian Maritime Services Ltd.)

   

Furthermore, YoungShip Sri Lanka Assistant Secretary Ms. Aruni Wijepala (Deputy General Manager Hayleys Energy Services) co-moderated session 3 of the day.