For the second consecutive year during the “Sri Lanka Maritime Week” in September, the Colombo International Maritime Conference better known as CIMC will be held from 21st to 23rd September in Colombo. 

The event is conducted in association with the Ministry of Ports and Shipping with Speaker of the Parliament being the patron of the event for the first time. Sri Lanka Maritime week is a cabinet decaled week to commemorate the World Maritime Day every year which falls in the last week of September as per International Maritime Organization-IMO calendar.

"Shipping: indispensable to the world” selected as World Maritime Day theme  The IMO theme 2016 was chosen to focus on the critical link between shipping and global society and to raise awareness of the relevance of the role of IMO as the global regulatory body for international shipping. The importance of shipping to support and sustain today’s global society gives IMO’s work a significance that reaches far beyond the industry itself.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), around 80 per cent of global trade by volume and over 70 per cent of global trade by value are carried by sea and are handled by ports worldwide. These shares are even higher in the case of most developing countries. Without shipping the import and export of goods on the scale necessary to sustain the modern world would not be possible. 

Seaborne trade continues to expand, bringing benefits for consumers across the world through competitive freight cost  The Sri Lanka maritime week will be inaugurated by the President to mark the world maritime day and the Colombo International Maritime Conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister who will be the key note speaker of the conference. Many senior ministers too will be taking stage with over 35 international speakers for the sessions conducted during the 3 day event.

CIMC2016 “Sri Lanka- Linking the maritime cross roads” The above theme is to offer and showcase the growing opportunities in Sri Lanka maritime industry in South Asia to international businesses as it opens up and invite for more business to South Asia and to invite investors to locate in Sri Lanka as the preferred maritime destination hub for better profits and sustainability.

CIMC will  open up topics ranging from South Asia maritime forum, Africa, Asia gateway, emerging Myanmar, and global shipping industry updates, transshipment, Colombo logistics forum, port development strategy, energy, cruise tourism, yacht marinas, offshore services, bunkering, technology updates, Sri Lanka as an investment destination are some  sessions that will be  available at the conference.