Dhammika Fernando elected as FTZMA Chairman

Tropical Findings (Pvt.) Ltd Director Dhammika Fernando was elected as the new Chairman of the Free Trade

Zone Manufacturers Association (FTZMA) as the members voted unanimously in favour of him at the 42nd Annual General Meeting held at The Winchester Ballroom, The Kingsbury, recently.
Fernando is also the incumbent President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management and Executive Board Member of the World Federation of People Management Associations.

Dial Textiles Industries (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Sean Umagiliya was also unanimously elected as Honorary Secretary of the association and Flintec Transducers (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Tyronne Weckasinghe was elected as Deputy Secretary while ATG Ceylon (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Fazal Abdeen and Screenline Holdings PLC Managing Director Nishantha Bakmeege were elected as Vice Chairmen. 

Filotex Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director M.H.Z.M. Marzook will remain as Honorary Treasurer, while Lalan Rubbers (Pvt.) Ltd CEO Manjula Mahadanaarachchi would deputise him as Deputy Treasurer of the association.
Japanese Ambassador Mizukoshi Hideaki was the chief guest at the AGM while Investment Promotion Sate Minister Dilum Amunugama and Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Director General Renuka Weerakoon were the guests of honour.

The FTZMA is the leading association representing the foreign direct investors in various export processing zones in Sri Lanka. Since it commenced its operations from the Katunayake Free Trade Zone over 40 years ago, the association has been representing foreign direct investments, expanding its presence to all free trade zones in Sri Lanka. 

In his statement after becoming the elected Fernando mentioned, “By no means we shall underestimate the current predicament of exporters. So far, there had not been safe sailing for businesses, meaning that we are not totally out of the doldrums and not at all the business-as-usual environment set in.
2022 was an incredibly tough year and while we have shown agility and resilience, we have not emerged from the doldrums unscathed. The magnitude of the conundrum is still to be determined but we are acutely aware of the difficulties that lie ahead.

Despite the apparent end of the pandemic, exporters are facing another global crisis, compounded by the crippling local financial crisis. The looming economic slowdown in Europe and the USA, our major export destinations, poses a severe threat to our exports. In addition, the increase in corporate and personal taxes, unfavourable forex rates and the abnormal increase in the cost of commodities, particularly energy, have caused our production costs to skyrocket, eroding our global competitiveness.

As a result, our export figures have taken a hit and many major industrial exporters are downsizing, shutting down operations or relocating. The SME sector has been particularly hard-hit, with the withdrawal of loan moratoriums and the contraction of large-scale enterprises having a cascading effect.
We fervently hope that the authorities will realise the seriousness of the situation and take swift action to prevent mass-scale furloughing, job losses and closures that will ultimately lead to dwindling foreign income.

We are grateful for the services provided by the BOI to our members and thankful to all other government agencies and ministries, including the Labour Ministry, EDB, Customs, ports and airport authorities and the apparel apex body JAAF, for their invaluable support. We also value the cooperation of the EFC, CCC, NCC, NGJA and all other sister trade chambers. Kudos to our friends in the media for giving the much-needed exposure to our burning issues and achievements. I would like to express my gratitude to the member enterprises, who are the strength of our association, for their steadfast support and to the Executive Committee colleagues and our dynamic Chairman for their unwavering dedication. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of our secretariat staff for their exceptional efforts in supporting the increase of membership and the smooth functioning of our office.”

He further said, “The FTZMA strongly believes that our country will be able recover from the current difficult economic situation faced by our members and the present government would formulate policies and take action in the right direction to foster the socio-economic progress of Sri Lanka and will bring back confidence of all investors” and the association ensures that continuous and smooth operation of the activities and most importantly sustain the industry by satisfying the investor. Issues brought up by members are being dealt with efficiently by creating a conducive environment with officials of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka and all stakeholders. 

Standing: Plant Lipids Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd Director Sepalika Jayawardena, Amsafe Bridport (Pvt.) Ltd General Manager Chandani Ekanayake, Flintec Transducers (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Tyronee Weckasinghe, Lanka Naigai (Pvt.) Ltd Director Neville Fernando, Lanka Hiqu (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Lalith Madappulli, Trinity Steel (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Jaison Joseph, Mark Muller of Crystal Martin Lanka (Pvt.)  Ltd, KIK Lanka (Pvt.)  Ltd Chairman Lalith Kahatapitiya, Screenline Holdings (Pvt.)  Ltd Managing Director Nishantha Bakmeege, Calico Color (Pvt.)  Ltd Chairman Prabath Gunasekera, Lalan Rubbers (Pvt.)  Ltd CEO Manjula Mahadanaarchchi, Dynawash (Pvt.)  Ltd Managing Director Shahid Sangani and FTZMA Secretary General Vasantha Dias
Seated: Isabella (Pvt.) Ltd Chairman Hemantha Perera, Filotex Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director M.H.Z.M. Marzook, Isin Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd Director Jatinder Biala, Investment Promotions Sate Minister Dilum Amunugama, Japanese Ambassador Mizukoshi Hideaki, Tropical Findings (Pvt.) Ltd Director Dhammika Fernando, BOI Director General Renuka Weerakoon, Shore to Shore (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Beauno Fernando and Dial Textiles Industries (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Sean Umagiliya 
Absent: ATG Ceylon (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Fazal Abdeen and Agromet Asia (Pvt.) Ltd Managing Director Ritesh Singhal