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Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen (far right) appoints CWE Chairman Dr. R.M.K. Ratnayake, National Crafts Council Chairman Dr. Buddhi Keerthisena, IDB Chairman Mahinda Jinasena, National Enterprise Development Authority Director General Himali Jinadasa, Laksala Chairman Hasitha Tillekeratne, Mantai Salt Ltd. Chairman M.M. Ameen and SLSI Chairman Dr. M.S. Anees on 11 February
Sri Lanka’s Industry and Commerce Minister began rolling out his top management rung on 11 February in Colombo and among them are some personalities from public service, the UN and the Lankan private sector. “As per the vision of President Maithripala Sirisena, we cannot afford news on irregularities and misappropriations. I expect weekly performance reports from you,” said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen. Bathiudeen was addressing some of his newly-appointed departmental heads, having made the appointments at EDB, Colombo. This is the first round of Bathiudeen’s departmental appointments under the guidance of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. “We came on a pledge of good governance and I appoint you on merit as per the vision of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. I have not met most of you earlier, nor have seen you, and I don’t know you on a personal basis either,” said Bathiudeen, addressing the appointees. He added: “From now onwards we cannot afford news on irregularities and misappropriations in these important institutions. I expect weekly performance reports from you. We also need to go for higher levels of value addition on our exports and products such as cement, under our Ministry.” CWE/Sathosa Accordingly, Dr. R.M.K. Ratnayake, a Lankan human nutritionist who earned a pioneering PhD from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1989) and a former Commerce Secretary who surprised the market by producing a strong balance sheet for CWE under him just before his previous reign closed in 2008, has been re-appointed to lead CWE/Sathosa – the main Government body that is empowered to import and supply essential consumer items and the prime mover of cost of living in Sri Lanka sitting at the very heart of wholesale distribution of Lankan market. Dr. Ratnayake, who has in-depth industry and commerce knowledge and who is also a board member of Lak Sathosa, was one of the SAARC Poverty Commissioners. “My immediate goal is to strengthen CWE,” he said. “We have to correct the balance sheet of CWE and put the finances back on track.” National Crafts Council Dr. Buddhi Keerthisena, the long-serving Chairman of National Crafts Council (NCC) and a Board Member, has already been leading NCC since 2002. He regained NCC leadership in 2007, bringing it to the limelight and even successfully clinching a partnership with HSBC for its craftsmen. He now aims at a National Policy for Craftsmen and availing better prices/returns for Lankan craftsmen through such entities as Laksala and the National Design Centre. “NCC is a service-oriented organisation and gets funding from the Treasury. I am keen to start our own sales outlets and generate own funds, for which I shall forward the proposals. This will generate a very healthy competition between NCC and Laksala, which can also lead to collaboration. Last year, NCC spent about $ 750,000,” said Dr. Keerthisena said. Industrial Development Board The new Industrial Development Board (IDB) Chairman Mahinda Jinasena – a well-known glass exporter in Sri Lanka as the Chairman and MD of Asoka Glass & Mirror Co – was trained by no less than India’s TATA as an automobile engineer. “I am a product of Royal College,” said Jinasena, and added: “An engineer by profession, I graduated in Management in 1983 in India. In terms of exports, my company exports more than 80% value added glass going from Sri Lanka. This is my first appointment in public sector. I am looking to closely link IDB with UNIDO. I want to take lessons from India’s strong IDB on how to develop our industry base further.” National Enterprise Development Agency Himali Jinadasa, Advisor to Bathiudeen at Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Country Focal Point of UNESCO, has been appointed as the Chairman and the Director General of Sri Lanka’s National Enterprise Development Agency of Sri Lanka (NEDA) on 11 February. An Alumna of the International History Department of London School of Economics (LSE), Himali has considerable experience with the UN system, at one time serving the UN while being based in East Timor. Himali functioned as a Director of National Projects Office (NPO) of Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services in 2009-’10. Previously, she was a Researcher with the Commission for the Elimination of Discrimination and Monitoring of Fundamental Rights (September 1996-August 1997), a Conflict Analyst (Co-existence Initiative - State of the World Forum (September 1998-April 1999). In East Timor she was the Land and Property Sector Head/Advisor (UN Transitional Administration (UNTAET-in Oct 2000-May 2002). Himali was a Lecturer in Comparative Peace Processes of University of Bradford (August 2002-October 2006). “NEDA is a great mechanism to develop Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurs,” said Himali. “For the effective development of Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurs, including women’s, we need the collaboration of various Chambers as well as SME sector of Sri Lanka, of which I am keen about.” Laksala Laksala is Sri Lanka’s largest State-owned gift, souvenir and handicraft chain with 13 stores island-wide. In 2014, it also entered the list of LMD’s 100 most respected entities of Sri Lanka. Newly-appointed Laksala Chairman Hasitha Tillekeratne previously ran Sri Lanka’s National Gem and Jewellery Authority as its CEO and Chairman, and succeeded in opening the Chinese and Malaysian markets to Lankan suppliers for the first time at a time when the world gem and jewellery markets were crashing due to the global recession. The timely move helped the Lankan sector to emerge unscathed from the grip of global recession. The longest-serving Chairman of the National Gem and Jewellery Authority from 2006-’10 and founder Chairman of Lanka Gemmological Laboratory, Tillekeratne was also a member of GSMB Technical Services under Geological Survey and Mines Bureau and a previous Director of Building Materials Corporation too. “I am looking forward to bring e-commerce to Laksala,” said Tillekeratne. “It is time that we transform the sales outlets to be identified as separate units and formulate them as Strategic Business Units. We should give the best to our consumer.” Mantai Salt Meera M. Ameen, who has been re-appointed as the Chairman of Mantai Salt Ltd. (MSL) said that as the ex-Chairman too, he is pleased of MSL’s performance. “I am happy that Mantai Salt came back to black in the last quarter for the first time after some period,” he said. “Our production is located in Mannar and we supply 2.6% of total salt production of Sri Lanka. By strengthening the Mannar Saltern further, we want to increase it to 5%.” Mantai Salt produces four types of salts-common, iodine mixed, crush Industrial salts. Salt from the MSL is considered as best quality salt in Sri Lanka (with 98.5 sodium chloride rate) in comparison to salt harvested in other parts of the country. Sri Lanka Standards Institute Dr. M.S. Anees, Senior Lecturer of Dept. of Political Science and Public Policy, has been appointed as the Chairman as well as Council Member of Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) which issues SLS and ISO certifications for domestic as well as imported-goods and commodities. Dr. Anees, an M.A. and Ph.D. (2002) recipient of Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan, and a University of Peradeniya graduate (1990), said: “As the National Standards Body, SLSI is also a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and exchange of our National standards with Geneva will continue.” Also present on the occasion on 11 February was Ministry of industry and Commerce Secretary S.S. Miyanawala.
