The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Asian Shippers Council (ASC) will be hosted in Sri Lanka, for the first time, in August 2009. The Sri Lanka Shippers Council has made its efforts to host the conference after 15 years of lobbying, as a consequence of the end of the ethnic war, said the convenor of the Sri Lanka Shippers Council, Rohan Masakorala. He said that the Annual General Meeting provides an opportunity to promote the country as a maritime and logistics hub.

"This achievement is a great success for Sri Lanka as Colombo was always rejected as a venue due to security considerations.” he said. Mr.Masakorala went on to say that the AGM of ASC in Colombo is significant not only for shippers but for every service sector in the country, including  port and  investment authorities,  and the Tourism Promotion Bureau.

A convenor from each region will be represented in the council roundtable.The meeting is expected discuss policy issues, maritime security, shipping costs such as terminal handling charges,  as well as the global economic crisis and new marketing and business opportunities.

The Asian Shippers’ Council is the single largest body of the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF), which represents exporters, importers and service providers in the logistics and trade businesses around the world. The GSF event will be held in September in London after the Colombo meeting. The Asian Shippers Council covers 5 geographical regions including China, the Indian Sub-Continent, North East Asia, Oceania and South East Asia. It also consists of 20 shippers’ councils from 16 countries in the Asian region. The ASC is led by a Chairman and supported by a permanent Secretariat based in Singapore.
(DM14072009)