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Sanjeev Kumar Bandlish, General Secretary of All India State Bank of India Staff Federation was elected as the President of UNI Apro South Asia Finance Sector Unions Council (SAFSUC) at its 5th meeting held on 20th June 2016, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Damith Leelarathne President of FBOSL Sri Lanka welcomed all participants to the meeting. UNI Apro Finance President Masakazu Tahara and Regional Secretary Christopher Ng extended greetings to the council meeting in their opening remarks.

SAFSUC Presidency gravel was presented to Bro Sanjeev Bandlish by Hon. W D J Seneviratne, Minister for Labour and Trade Union relations in Sri Lanka, who was the guest of honour at the joint session of UNI Apro Finance steering group and SAFSUC meeting held in Colombo.

Finance sector trade unions that represent employees in banking and insurance industry in South Asian region from, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka  gathered at the meeting, and reviewed the challenges confronting the trade unions in the region.

Hostilities towards  Bank of Punjab Employees Union in Pakistan and harassment on trade union leaders in Central Bank of India was discussed at length, and the SAFSUC members agreed to extend solidarity support in every way possible to get the banks to respect trade union rights in both banks. Sajid Ali Abbasi, General Secretary of Pakistan Bank Insurance Employees Federation (PBIFEF) updated the unlawful privatisation attempts of State Life Insurance Corporation by way of a presidential decree in Pakistan. PBIFEF has launched a campaign against privatisation of profit making corporation and solicited global solidarity support from UNI and SAFSUC at the meeting.

A panel discussion on the theme: Risk conscious customer focused diverse financial system; including state owned enterprises to widen financial inclusion in South Asia was held as a knowledge sharing session of the meeting. Bro. Tennakone Rusiripala, former President of Ceylon Bank Employees Union Sri Lanka; who was the main architect of the campaign to protect state owned banks in Sri Lanka in early nineties shared his experiences at the panel discussion.

Following officials were elected to SAFSUC leadership at the meeting.

Sanjeev Kumar Bandlish ( President) AISBISF, India; Prem Makker (Senior Vice President) AIBOBOA India, Nuwan Diwakara (VP) FBOSL Sri Lanka, Zakir Hossain (VP) BBEF Bangladesh, K C Ganesh (Secretary) FIEUN Nepal, Sajid Ali Abbasi (Asst. Secretary) PBIFEF Pakistan.