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Conference Information |
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To: All International Participants
We are honoured by your acceptance of our invitation
to attend the International Conference on
‘Trans / formations: Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism"’
to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 17th to 19th December 2004. We do hope that your
presence at the conference would be an enriching
experience and as organisers of the event
we would do everything possible to ensure
that your participation at the conference
would be a memorable one. In this document
we propose to give you comprehensive information,
which we feel may be useful to you. Do not
hesitate to contact us should you need further
clarification.
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| VISA |
A list of all International Participants has been
handed over to the Foreign Ministry in Sri
Lanka, and they in turn have informed the
relevant embassies in your country regarding
the issuing of a visa for the conference.
Hence you are requested to notify the relevant
embassy, of your participation at the conference,
and your visa will be issued.
Participants who are nationals from the following
countries will have their visa issued on arrival:
Afghanistan, East
Timor, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Colombia,
Guatemala
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| Travel Arrangement |
As previously informed, for most of you, ICES will
pay for your economy class round trip ticket.
Kindly let us know at your earliest if you
would want us to purchase your ticket, so
that we could make the necessary arrangements.
If you are purchasing your ticket through
your travel agent, kindly let us know the
price quotation prior to purchasing the ticket.
You would need to have the following documents with
you in order to ensure that you are reimbursed
for your ticket:
You are advised to book your flight for arrival around
the 15st/16nd of December
and departure around the 19th/20th
of December subject to availability of flights.
Any queries with regard to travel should be
directed to travel@icescolombo.org
Local
Transportation
On
your arrival in Sri Lanka, transport from
the Colombo International
Airport to the Hotel, has been arranged.
If for some reason you encounter any difficulty,
please take a Taxi to the Hotel. It should
cost you around Rs. 1500, which is approximately
US $15
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| Accommodation |
All participants will be hosted at the Global
Towers Hotel, a four star hotel in
the heart of the city. The conference in its
entirety would take place at the same venue.
The
address of the Hotel is : Global Towers
Hotel, Marine Drive, Colombo 6. Tel: +94 11 2591000,
Fax: +94 11 2591003,
E Mail: info@globallanka.com
The officer in charge of the conference at the Global
Towers Hotel is Mr Omesh De Silva.
The ICES would
pay for your accommodation (Bed and Breakfast)
and provide you with a per diem for your meals.
If any participants would like to stay on after the
19 th of December, they would have
to do so at their own expense.
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| Conference Venue |
Global
Towers Hotel, Marine Drive,Colombo 6, Sri
Lanka
(Locate
from the Map)
The
Conference will be held at the Ball Room,
Global Towers Hotel Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The hotel is situated in the City Centre and
could be reached in 45 munites (33 km) from
the Colombo
International Airport.
Directions: Negombo/Colombo main road
into the city of Colombo, Echelon Square,
Lotus Road, Colombo Fort, Galle Road. Negombo/Colombo
main road into the city of Colombo, Echelon
Square, Galle Road, Colombo 6 Charlimont road
Marine Drive.
Getting to and from the Airport
Bus Service , typical
minimum charge is USD 1.00
Courtesy Bus , typical minimum charge is USD
6.00
Limousine , typical minimum charge is USD
32.00
Rental Car , typical minimum charge is USD
25.00
Taxi , typical minimum charge is USD 30.00
Driving
Directions |
| Evening Programmes |
ICES has organised a series of evening programmes
for you during your stay.
Thursday, 16th December 2004:
The opening of the Art Exhibition: Tortured
Landscapes followed by Inauguration of the
Conference and Dinner will take place at ICES,
Colombo.
Friday, 17th December 2004:
Folk Play
Saturday, 18th December 2004:
Slide Show on A-9
by Walter Keller followed by cocktail at Global
Towers Hotel.
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| Conference |
The conference is organised into 6 sessions.
Each session will be lead by chair and participants
who will present their papers and Discussant
who will make comments on the presentations
All participants are requested to send in their papers
of about 30-35 pages at least 2 weeks prior
to the conference. They are advised to
speak for 20 minutes at the most. Panelists
should be prepared to lead the discussions
by speaking for about 10 minutes. |
| Registration
Desk |
Registration
of Participants will take place at the entrace
to the Conference Hall during 9.00-9.30 am.
on 17 December 2004. Participants are expected
to collect their Conference folder and Badges
from the Registration Desk. |
| Travel Agent
Desk |
There will
be a travel agent at the Conference venue
and participants are adviced to re-confirm
their airtickets at this counter. You could
also approach the travel counter at the hotel
for re-confirmation or any other matters.
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| Finance Desk |
There will
be a desk for travel reimburshments, payment
of perdiem etc. Participants are stongly adviced
to bring along with them original invoices
and photocopy of airtickets of their travel
to Sri Lanka. |
| Secretariat |
The Conference Secretariat will be located in Room
401 of the Global Towers Hotel during
17-20 December 2004. The Secretariat would
be equiped with facilities for Internet/Email,
Photocopying etc and participants would be
allowed limited access for such facilities.
We do hope that the given information is adequate
and should there be further queries please
do not hesitate to write to admin@icescolombo.org
or contact anyone of the following from the
organising committee:
Ms. Tharanga De Silva (mobile: +94 77682196), Ms.
Soundarie David (mobile:
+94 77636457) and Mr.
S. Varatharajan (mobile
is +94 777 896276) could be contacted on the following numbers:
+94-11-2685085/2679745/2674884
For
more information, please contact
International
Centre for Ethnic Studies
2,
Kynsey Terrace,
Colombo
8, Sri Lanka
Tel.
94-11-2685085/2679745/2674884, Fax. 94-11-2698048
Email: admin@icescolombo.org
Website:
http://www.icescolombo.org/
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| Country
Information |
| Location
|
880
kms north of the equator, adjacent to the Southern
tip of India |
| Area |
65,610
sq Km |
| Population |
19.4(2000)
Million |
| Commercial Capital |
Colombo |
| Administrative Capital |
Sri
Jayawardenapura |
| Time Zone |
UTC
plus 6 hours |
| Principal Languages |
Sinhala,
Tamil, English is widely understood and spoken
throughout island |
| Principal religions |
Buddhism,
Hinduism, Christianity, Islam |
| Principal
ethnic groups |
Sinhalese,
Tamils, Muslims, Burghers(Eurasians), and Malays |
| Education & Literacy |
Sri
Lanka,s Literacy rate stands at 90%, one of
the highest in the region. Education is divided
into Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary (University)
education. Sri Lankan students spend twelve
years in College, Which encompasses the Primary
and Secondary divisions. |
| Currency |
Sri
Lanka Rupee Denomination :Rs. 10/-, Rs.20/-,
Rs.50/-, Rs.100/-, Rs.200/-, Rs.500/-, Rs.1000/-.
One hundred cents make a Rupee. |
| Exchange Rate |
|
| Business
hours |
Sri
Lanka adopts a five day week from Monday through
Friday . Hours of Business are usually as follows:
Government
offices : 9.00 am to 4.30 PM.
Private
Enterprises : 8.30 am to 5.00 PM.
Banks
: 9.00 am to 3.00 PM
Post
Offices : 8.30 am to 5.00 PM (The General
Post Office in Colombo Fort is Open 24 hours
a day) |
| Holidays |
Sri
Lanka has three categories of holiday. Public
Holidays, Mercantile Holidays and Bank Holidays.
Apart from the weekend holidays (Saturday and
Sunday), the Public and Mercantile holidays
above are linked to religious festivals of the
main ethnic groups and vary from year to year.
The Bank holidays are specific to banks. |
| Hotels
|
The
Hilton, Intercontinental, Oberoi, Taj, Holiday
Inn, Galadari and Trans Asia Hotel chains have
5 star representation in Sri Lnaka. Other high
Quality accommodation is also available. |
| Telecommunications |
Telephone,
Fax, Cellular, Satellite, E-Mail and Internet
Services are Widely available in Colombo. Typical
line speed for data transmission averages 28.8K/
64K ISDN lines. Celluar systems offer AMPS,
ETACS and GSM networks. |
| Electricity
Supply |
220
- 240 volts AC |
| Credit Cards |
VISA,
Mastercard, American Express, Diners are accepted
in the commercial centers |
| Banks |
Hong
Kong Bank, ANZ Grindlays, ABN Amro, Standard
Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Mashreq, Malaysia
Public Bank, American Express and Societe Generale,
among other international banks, are represented
in Sri Lanka. |
| Airports |
The
Bandaranaike International Airport is situated
in Katunayake, an hour,s drive from Colombo. |
| Airlines |
All
International Airlines are represented in Sri
Lanka. |
| Climate |
Sri
Lanka is a typically tropical country with distinct
dry and wet seasons, but the picture is somewhat
complicated by the fact that it is subject to
two monsoons: the Yala season (May to August),
when the south-west monsoon brings rain to the
southern, western and central regions; and the
Maha season (October to January), when the north-east
monsoon brings rain to the north and east of
the island. Temperatures in the low-lying coastal
regions are high year round but they rapidly
fall with altitude and in the hill country,
where it feels like perpetual spring. The highest
temperatures are from March through June, while
November to January is usually the coolest time
of the year. Rainfall is heaviest in the south,
south west and central highlands; the northern
and north-central regions are very dry. The
best time to visit the west, south coast and
hill country is between December and March.
May to September is best on the east coast. |
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