The 107th Annual Session of the IESL was ceremonially inaugurated on Tuesday 15th October, 2013 at the picturesque Waters Edge, Battaramulla, in the presence of a capacity crowd consisted of Council Members, Past Presidents, Corporate Members, spouses, awardees, special invitees and guests. Ms Rita O’ Sullivan – Country Director, Sri Lanka Resident Mission (SLRM) Asian Development Bank (ADB) graced the occasion as the Chief Guest while Mr. Basil Wakelin, Chair – International Professional Engineers Agreement was the Keynote Speaker. They were received at the foyer of the hotel by the President and President –Elect of the IESL with the traditional offering of betel and after introduction to the IESL Past Presidents and Council Members conducted in a procession to the ballroom where the ceremony was to be held heralded by the performances of a traditional dancing troupe.

The lighting of the traditional oil lamp and the national anthem was followed by the Welcome and Presidential Address by the Eng. Tilak De Silva, President – 2012/2013. He likened the achievements during his presidency to that of building the foundations and first floor of a modern multistoried building of which the balance stories have to be built in the future. He said that he has made the IESL accessible to its membership, as promised in his inaugural speech last year, using modern technology and establishing more regional centres to break the distance and time barriers. He stated that within the very short period of one year he has put in place a framework for a futuristic path towards achievements of the mission and vision of the institution.

The Keynote Speaker delved on the importance of attaining outcome based engineering education standards in accordance with international agreement for mutual recognition of qualifications by countries. The Chief Guest, Ms. O’Sullivan stated that the ADB is an important stakeholder in the country’s development and that it finances development in many ways. She stressed the important contribution engineers and the IESL, as the apex body for the profession, could make to it. She pointed out to the many smart concepts that have become integral to development of countries in the context of sustainability and social wellbeing of the people for efficient use of scarce resources and preservation of the environment.

The induction of the Eng. Shavindranath Fernando as the new President -2013/2014 took centre stage thereafter with the Presidents Chain being adorned on the new President by the outgoing president, Eng. Tilak De Silva.

Addressing the gathering in his inaugural speech, the President 2013/2014, thanked Eng. Tilak De Silva for changes brought in, which would make the new president’s job easier. He said that making of IESL more and more accessible to members will continue during his presidency. He laid stress on engineers giving importance to honing their engineering fundamentals instead of getting lost, after graduation, in the sea of many other supplementary skills that have opened up. He pointed out to his own career at the CEB climbing the ladder to be now its General Manager.

The event was also the occasion to present Honorary Fellowship and Honorary Membership to senior Fellows and Members of the institution. The winners of the Junior Inventor of the Year 2013 competition pioneered by the IESL to promote creativity were also awarded prizes at the event.

The ceremony concluded with the Vote of Thanks delivered by Eng. S.B Abeykoon and refreshments.