4 August 2018 12:00 am Views - 1967
Shamal Fernando, Deputy Executive Director (Non Academic) ALSA Forum 2018 and President ALSA-SL, further elaborated on the significance of the forum. “The ALSA Forum is the flagship activity of the association, which is a week-long conference that brings together law students from its member countries for a series of academic and non-academic activities. The primary objective of the ALSA Forum is to bring law students from all over Asia onto one platform to form a strong network and make connections with each other and among the locals. The significance of hosting the forum in Sri Lanka is that the country is now in its peak of development and tourism has spiked and the country is booming with opportunities to grow and prosper. The ALSA SL is a sphere for all local law undergraduates to explore ones possibilities and future opportunities.”
The forum will also include the ALSA General Assembly, Governing Council Meetings and International Board elections. In addition, various talks and table discussion have been scheduled
Joshua Surendraraj Media Director ALSA Forum 2018 said , ”We’ve been having this forum since 2004. The primary objective is to appoint the governing board for the Asian law students body for the coming year. We’ll be hosting both academic sessions and the general assembly where there will be voting process. We’ll have to elect the international board and produce an accountability report. The main goal is to build connections with local law students and the Asian law students.”
He also spoke about the significance of hosting the forum for the first time in Sri Lanka, “We have hosted the ALSA Annual Conference of 2015 and AIMCC 2016 (ALSA International Moot Court Competition). But hosting the ALSA forum is a huge privilege because it is the biggest event in the ALSA calendar. It was only last year that we won the bid to host the forum. The ALSA body is a growing body in Sri Lanka and we started off under the patronage of C.G Weeramanthry, former president of the International Court of Justice. This is almost a student version of CHOGM.”
Navindu Mendis Director of Graphic Designing further stated, “ALSA is a very large organisation and having a small nation like Sri Lanka hosting a forum of this calibre is a huge leap forward for us law students and the nation as a whole. I believe that the two sessions, academic and non-academic are of great importance. During the academic sessions ideas and perceptions of the law can be exchanged and the non-academic sessions would act as a cross cultural exchange where fellowship between nations would be built.”