For the First time in history ,Sri Lanka is chosen as the venue for such Higher level Planning and Update sessions , usually such meetings are held in India, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong or Japan. This has positively promoted Sri Lanka as a good venue for such higher level events.

As a neutral location all West Asian and other Asian countries can travel to Sri Lanka without any
travel restriction and most nationals can obtain visa on arrival for such International events.
The many reasons to select the location were explained, as initially this meeting was to be held in Tokyo Japan. After the tsunami disaster, due to the safety factor it was to be postponed. The PMI Colombo Sri Lanka Chapter President Hugo Wisidagama, promoted Sri Lanka and all decision makers agreed to have it within short notice.

PMI USA has agreed to approve and given the green light to have this meeting in Sri Lanka as the latest venue for the above meeting. In general favourite locations for this meeting are the South West or East countries such as Singapore, Japan, Australia or India. However PMI Colombo Chapter's progress and also country direction towards PM practices has made them to decide to have the First PMI Chapter Presidents' Regional meeting to be held in Sri Lanka. As a tourism promotion effort in 2011 PMI Sri Lankan Chapter has encouraged to have it at a Beach Resort rather than City Hotel, at Waiakal, Negombo. This is a good sign for Sri Lanka, No risk factor or opposition from any country to hold this meeting in Sri Lanka.

PMI Globally recognized the, "PMI Colombo Chapter activities working with the government, industry and private sector to develop the Project Management Practices through Education, participation of various activities, not only just training the Project Managers for Certifications.

Since PMI Colombo Chapter has brought credibility to Sri Lanka and PM Professionals to host such a high level "Planning meeting" with the PMI Leadership Institute Knowledge sharing session will bring great experience to all participants. As Chapter President Mr Hugo Wisidagama, explained this will lead to the "next Regional Conference too to be held in Sri Lanka in 2012.

All West Asian Chapter Presidents and Directors will attend this for Planning and knowledge sharing session, which is generally held bi-annually. This opportunity also promotes Sri Lanka to showcase some mega "Sri Lankan Project Success Stories" to the regional leaders such as "Ports Development: BP/ICT - ICTA Projects, Tourism industry Infrastructure , "Success to show the country's readiness to be the regional HUB for many business services.

With this meeting Sri Lanka will be once again "Highlighted on all PMI Global magazines, in 171 countries, to over 600000 members, which would help to bring back the country's image, after 30 years of war, the country which is now on par in infrastructure and facilities moving towards other regional leading countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, India and Australia.

West and South Asian Presidents and their family get together, is also a key feature to understand, our social and cultural events. This will open a window of opportunities to promote Sri Lanka for such future events as a means of attracting "Professional Tourists".

PMI Colombo Chapter President, Hugo Wisidagama said the feedback of the visitors will be provided for the benefit of the country to the respective authorities.

Colombo Chapter.www.pmicolombo.org.