Sri Lankan Expatriates’ forum 2009 was held on the 14th November at the Presidential Secretariat. SLBCJ Members were also invited to participate for this event followed by the Interactive Sessions on 15th November 2009 at the Gall Face Hotel.
Representing the Sri Lankan Expatriates’ Entrepreneurs of Japan SLBCJ members were also able to submit a letter of requests to His Excellency the president of Sri Lanka Hon. Mahinda Rajapakshe.
About the Forum:
As the war against the LTTE has seen its ultimate end, today, the Sri Lankan expatriate community has been able to look at their future with renewed hopes. In this era of renaissance, while appreciating the unwavering support rendered by the expatriate community for the successful campaign of eradication of the menace of terrorism from our homeland, H.E. the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa clearly indicated the necessity for developing a meaningful dialogue with all shades of Sri Lankan expatiates to encourage their active participation in the nation-building and development process of Sri Lanka. H.E. the President consider that, developing of a viable, vibrant, functional, and effective mechanism is a prerequisite for the maintenance of an endeavouring engagement with the Sri Lankan expatriates to direct their energies and secure their pro-active participation towards this noble exercise. Such a mechanism would undoubtedly be able to provide a firm platform for the expatriate community to engage constructively with the policymakers in Sri Lanka to express and exchange their innovative and insightful thoughts for the social, political, cultural, and economic development of post-war Sri Lanka. In view of the above, the aim of this historic gathering of expatriate community is to create a conducive environment to energize their collective engagement, dynamic contribution, and steadfast commitments in the fields such as; education, health, private sector development, trade and investment, knowledge transfers, image building, cultural development, unity and reconciliation, community development, foreign currency remittances, etc. Above all, bridging the gap between the other ethnic groups and Tamil community is one of the key aims of this project. In particular, this expatriate forum will be an ongoing process aiming at forging a productive partnership between the expatriate community and the people of Sri Lanka.
