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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Lanka to
host SADF Parley
NDB bank, the Sri Lanka representative of the South Asian Development Fund (SADF) will host their 9th conference in Colombo on October 10. All 14 members of the governing board consisting of seven representatives from the seven development finance institutions from the member states and seven representatives from the national focal points will participate in issues to be discussed at the conference such as the setting up of a permanent secretariat and the preparation of the Charter and By-Laws for the operations of SADF.
The other areas that will be taken up for discussion at the meeting would be the delegation of authority to an executive board which will in turn take decisions expeditiously with regard to approvals of project ideas and appointment of consultants and final study. NDB bank was appointed as the Sri Lanka representative of the SADF in 1996. Chief Executive Officer of NDB bank Nihal Welikala is the Governing Board member representing NDB. Vice President of SME and SME Development at NDB bank A.L.Somaratne is the Alternate Member of the SADF. Somarathne said "What we do at SADF is fund feasibility studies to identify commercially viable development projects in the SAARC region. So far only 17 feasibility studies have been carried out within the SAARC region, 16 of these reports have already been completed. At the inception of the SADF,we had a capital of US $ 5 million. However it is unfortunate that in Sri Lanka no one comes forward to utilise this money appropriately by receiving funding for such feasibility projects" NDB bank's involvement with the SADF is key as Sri Lanka will be taking over the presidency of the SADF in 2006 and as such the CEO of the NDB bank will become the next chairman. "With the Chairmanship coming to Sri Lanka next year, we hope to make a difference by helping our entrepreneurs to conduct feasibility studies for various projects. We have so many opportunities with regard to Agriculture, Fisheries, Vegetables and Power generation which are yet to be tapped" Somaratne said. He said "training programs were conducted on Executive Development and Identification and Rehabilitation of Sick Projects" The South Asian Development Fund (SADF), a key organisation under the SAARC umbrella was founded in 1996 with a pledge to support Industrial Development, to fight poverty Alleviation, to protect the environment and to promote institutional and human resource development and social and infrastructure development projects. The SADF was a result of the merger of two SAARC funds- the SAARC Fund for Regional Projects and the SAARC Regional Fund. All the SAARC member countries are members of the SADF. The South Asian Region generates one of the lowest GDP incomes
contributing only 2% of the world GDP. |
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