Ceylon Chamber of Commerce elects Duminda Hulangamuwa as new Chairman

• Pledges to ensure Ceylon Chamber plays its bigger role to Sri Lanka and its members
• Assures fullest support to Govt. and all institutions to steer Sri Lanka from stabilisation path to growth and prosperity

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce elected Duminda Hulangamuwa as its new Chairman at the 184th AGM held on 30 June.

Hulangamuwa who is the Country Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Sri Lanka and the Maldives, succeeds veteran businessman Vish Govindasamy as the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber.

John Keells Holdings PLC Chairman Krishan Balendra was appointed as Vice Chairman and Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka CEO Bingumal Thewarathanthri as Deputy Vice Chairman.

In his acceptance speech, Hulangamuwa said compared to the situation that prevailed last year the country has achieved relative stability economically, socially, and politically and highlighted the fact that the CCC played a significant role in this process.

“The challenge before us now is to provide even greater support to the institutions concerned to steer the country from a stabilisation path to a path of growth and prosperity that will create equal opportunity for all Sri Lankans. Towards this end the Ceylon Chamber, will extend our fullest support to the Government in office and all the institutions in every possible way,” he said.

The new Chairman also noted that the CCC is a member driven organisation that must have the larger interest of members as the core of its mission. “In addition to the role played in the economic reform the Chamber has bigger role in delivering to the membership. We need to get involved in areas where our members are facing issues such as promoting corporate agriculture, removing price controls, promoting FTAs, tariff issues etc. I firmly believe that our success as a Chamber is directly linked to the success of each individual member,” Hulangamuwa emphasised.

He also thanked all past chairmen who helped him in the chamber to achieve this prestigious position as the chairman of the Ceylon Chamber, his Partners at EY who have given me enormous support and encouragement in life at the Chamber. Hulangamuwa also thanked James Selvam Mather his mentor who groomed him from an 18 years old school leaver to what he is today as well as his beloved wife for all support and encouragement given in his professional life.

Chief Guest at the AGM Ambassador of Japan Hideaki Mizukoshi highlighted the importance of completing various reforms in line with the IMF program. ‘Serious implementation of the reforms will also contribute to the improvement of the investment and business environment through financial stabilisation and the streamlining of administrative procedures through digital transformation initiatives. Japan supports very strongly such reform measures which enhance transparency, efficiency and consistency’ he added.

Ambassador Mizukoshi assured that Japan will continue to play a significant role in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process, ‘not only as a creditor nation but also as a long-standing friend of Sri Lanka’.

In addition to the office bearers the following were elected to the Board of the Ceylon Chamber: Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC Chairman Amal Cabraal, Hemas Holdings PLC Group CEO Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, Hayleys PLC Executive Director Sarath Ganegoda, Dialog Axiata PLC Director/Group CEO Supun Weerasinghe, Hirdaramani Group Chairman Vinod Hirdaramani, and The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Secretary General and CEO Buwanekabahu Perera.

Each Board member possesses a wealth of expertise in their respective fields, and their collective leadership will play a vital role in ensuring the continued success of the Ceylon Chamber’s efforts to foster the private sector as a primary engine of economic growth in Sri Lanka.