12th Annual General Meeting

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The 12th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Professional Sri Lankans in the UK (APSL), was held on Saturday 14th May 2016 at Citadines Apart Hotel, Holborn, London, with the participation of the members of the Association.

Mr. Manoj Warnapala, Minister Councillor for Education and Culture at the Sri Lanka High Commission attended the meeting representing the Acting Sri Lanka High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr. Sugeeshwara Gunaratne, who is the Patron of the Association.

The following were elected to the Executive Committee for year 2016 – 2017.

President – Mr. Leslie Dep
Vice Presidents – Mr. Thushara Madurasinghe & Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana
General Secretary – Dr. Mohan Siriwardena
Membership Secretary – Mrs. Gayani Senaratne
Treasurer – Ms. Buddhini Liyanage

Executive Committee Members

Dr. Mahesh de Silva
Mr. Suraj Wijendra
Mr. Gihantha Jayasinghe
Dr. Roger Srivasan
Dr. Leshan Uggalla
Prof. Terrance Fernando
Dr. Dilrini de Silva
Ms. Jananie Nallathamby
Ms. Paola Bethmage

Co-opted Senior Members Mr. Mervyn Silva (Immediate Past President)
Mr. Rohan de Alwis
Prof. I. M. Dharmadasa
Dr. Andrew Nayagam
Dr. Marc Dissanayake
Prof. Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran
Dr. Athula Sumathipala
Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy (APSL Representative in Sri Lanka)

After the election of the new Executive Committee, Mr. Leslie Dep, the President elect for the year 2016-2017, thanked the outgoing committee for the dedication and hard work during the year and he thanked everyone for appointing the new Executive Committee, and welcomed the new members who joined the Executive Committee this year.  He also thanked the outgoing General Secretary Dr. Mahesh De Silva, for carrying out his duties and responsibilities diligently during his two year term with a very high degree of professionalism and commitment. He will continue to be in the Executive Committee.

The President congratulated the new General Secretary Dr. Mohan Siriwardena, who was appointed for a two year term. He is a senior member of the Association, and he served as the Membership Secretary of the Association a few years ago.

He also thanked the outgoing Treasurer Mr. Thushara Madurasinghe, for his valuable services rendered during his term, and congratulated for being appointed as one of the Vice Presidents of the Association for the year 2016-2017. He will be responsible for the improvement of the financial strength of APSL. The President congratulated the newly appointed Treasurer Ms. Buddhini Liyanage, who has been a very active member since joining the APSL few years ago.
The President reiterated the importance of attracting young Sri Lankan professionals into the Association. He mentioned that it will be entrusted to the other Vice President Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana, to organise events to promote APSL, and attract young Sri Lankan professionals to join us and participate actively in future events and projects.

Mrs. Gayani Senaratne will continue in her current role as the Membership Secretary.

The AGM came to a conclusion after a presentation on Health Migration, delivered by the guest speaker Dr. Kolitha Wickramage from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Dr. Chesmal Siriwardhana who organised the talk introduced the speaker. Dr. Wickramage is based in Geneva, and he has been involved in health migration research activities for a while. Before that, he was involved in the Tsunami rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka. He has also worked for the UN during the internal conflict in Sri Lanka, working in the Vanni District. It was a very informative talk on the work the IOM carries out with respect to the movement of migration in Sri Lanka, especially to the Gulf countries, and how it affects the families left behind, and also the work the IOM does for the welfare of the migrant workers. He also explained the global trends in migration by citing examples from other countries in Asia, and the obstacles they face in getting a better deal for the migrant workers.

It was a very successful 12th Annual General Meeting and we look forward to your support and participation in the coming year at all our events and projects.