Lanka hosts Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production in June

Professionals, academics and industrialists from nearly 32 countries will converge in Colombo from June 10 to12 as Sri Lankaplays host to the forthcoming 09th Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP).

President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa will inaugurate the Roundtable as Chief Guest while the Director General of UNIDO Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella will deliver the keynote address.

The APRSCP is the regional network comprising businessmen, industrialists, professionals and academics who have banded together to promote sustainable consumption and production in the region. In its Board of Trustees are members from the Philippines,Australia, USA, Thailand,Malaysia, India, China,Vietnam, Korea, Indonesiaand Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankais indeed both privileged and honored to play host to the 09th Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP). This Roundtable could not have taken place at a more appropriate time, when natural catastrophes are taking place around the world at an alarming and recurrent pace, some triggering deadly Tsunamis, and dormant volcanic glaciers causing disaster. This high powered Roundtable with its local, regional and global experts will serve as a true voice of sanity and contribute towards furthering the urgency and importance of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

Chairman of the APRSCP Dr. (Anthony) Shun Fung CHIU said that this Roundtable will provide the much needed forum for participants to parley and understand the change required. “As done in the past, this 09th Roundtable will undoubtedly act as the ‘Change Agent’ by bringing together people from diverse backgrounds around the world, and in turn, offer practical solutions which can be converted into action. The new world order for the survival of life on earth is globally recognised as Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). The theme of the forthcoming 09th Roundtable is thus fittingly “SCP: a strategy to meet global challenges in business and industry”. It is expected to reinforce how SCP can be a pivotal force for business and industry to meet the goals of sustainable development”.

Elaborating on the global importance of this event, Chair of the 09th APRSCP Organising Committee, Engineer. V.R. Sena Peiris said that the current global challenges facing business and industry will be the main focus for discussion and sharing of opinions and ideas at the Roundtable. “We expect it to provide an opportunity for vigorous interactive dialog on the new paths and approaches to overcome these issues. This will, in the long term, benefit a wide range of stakeholders including national policy makers, members of academia, research and development institutes, businessmen, industrialists, representatives of NGOs, service providers, the donor community, funding agencies and others concerned with SCP”.

The sub-themes which will be explored at the Roundtable will be : ‘Sustainable Production’, ‘Sustainable Consumption’, ’Water and Sanitation’, ‘Energy’, ‘Sound Chemical Management’, ‘Eco-Cities and Sustainable Building’, ‘New Marketing Strategies’ and ‘Tools for SCP’.

Inaugurated in Thailand in 1997 to foster dialog and partnerships among industry, governments, academia and non-governmental organisations in the region, eight successful roundtables have already been held in Australia, Philippines, Malaysiaand Vietnam.

Photo caption: (from left) Eng. Sena Peiris (Chair - 09th Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production), Thilak Kollure (Secretary – Ministry of Industry and Commerce), Rishad Bathiyutheen (Minister of Industry and Commerce), Miss. Padmini Batuwitage (Addl. Secretary, Minister of Environment), and Dr. Anthony Chiu (Chair – APRSCP).