Colombo Plan Maritime Administration Program concludes communications workshop for SLPA

From left : Port of Colombo – Capacity Building Project Project Assistant Tharushini Sooriyarachi, US Embassy IPS Regional Specialist Jeevika Arachchi, US State Department Deputy Director for Security Assistance South and Central Asia John Wise and Colombo Plan Port of Colombo – Capacity Building Project Lead Consultant Rohan Masakorala, SLPA Chairman Keith Bernard, US Embassy Colombo, US Regional Indo-Pacific Strategy Coordinator Dustin Bickel, Colombo Plan Secretary General Dr. Benjamin P. Reyes

A 40-member team from the Sri Lanka Ports Authority concluded a two-day workshop in communication skills recently under the Maritime Administration Program (MAP) capacity-building initiative of the Colombo Plan which is funded by the US Government Department of State.

This is the first program among many that will be conducted over the next three years to upskill and train the human resources staff of the SLPA. The inauguration was joined by the US State Department Deputy Director for Security Assistance South and Central Asia (SCA) John Wise who was on a visit to Colombo recently.

The training was condusted by Toastmaster Lalith Manage. The objective was to develop modern communication techniques as the SLPA interacts with a large number of international and local clients in operating the port as a global hub. The program was done as part of the gap analysis study done to uplift the skills and support the human records development in the ports sector.