The 13th International Conference of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS), will be held in Sri Lanka for the first time, from tomorrow, September 9 till Thursday, September 12 at Waters Edge Hotel, Battaramulla.
EASTS 2019 is jointly organised by the Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics (SLSTL), the domestic member of EASTS on the theme ‘Redesigning Transport & Logistics for the Rise of Asia’ and will be the largest conference of academics and researchers in transport. It is held regularly in Asia and the SLSTL won the bid to host the conference in Sri Lanka this year.
“It is an important conference not only for logistics sector but for the tourism sector as well. The benefit of the conference could not only be on monetary terms but as a country it will augur well for the future. Therefore, the entire spectrum of transport and logistics should be ready to take advantage of this conference,” Prof. Amal S. Kumarage of the University of Moratuwa said.
“The timing is right for the country to host conferences of this nature and we will have a far reaching positive impact coming out of the conference. It will also help our sector to emanate the outcome so that it could be more effective and efficient in the future,” he said.
Over 500 participants, with around 400 of them from abroad, representing 29 countries are due in Sri Lanka for what will be the largest gathering of transport professionals in Sri Lanka. Around 400 papers will be presented at the conference that will have 10 parallel presentation tracks held over three days. The conference will be followed by technical visits to several sites of interest, including the Port of Colombo, construction of the Outer Circular Highway Project - Phase 3, LAUGFS Terminals, Hambantota and several logistics centres and state of the art warehouses including several key Supply Chain processing centres in the Colombo area.
The chief guest at the opening cer The keynote addresses will be delivered by Prof. William H.K. Lam, Chair Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University on ‘Pedestrian Planning in Hong Kong’ and Prof. Amal S. Kumarage of the University of Moratuwa on ‘Sustainable Motorisation Policies for Middle Income Countries’.
The conference also consists of a National Advisory Committee (NAC), chaired by Sunil Hettiarachchi, Secretary to the Ministry of Highways and Road Development and Petroleum Resources Development and consist of professionals from the transport and logistics industry, from various organisations such as Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited, Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka, Institute of Supply and Materials Management, National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Association for Political Economy, Sri Lanka Economic Association, Sri Lanka Forum of University Economists, The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, University of Colombo, University of Jaffna, University of Moratuwa, University of Peradeniya, University of Ruhuna, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and the Urban Development Authority.