First Symposium

The 1st Conference of INAP

At the opportunity of the commissioning of the New Port of Kochi,
the Hon. M. H. M. Ashraff, PC, MP, the then Minister of Ports Development,
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction from the government of Sri Lanka
proposed that an opportunity should be created for all affiliate ports
to meet together. The proposal agreed by the Mr. Daijiro Hashimoto, Governor
of Kochi.
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority, upon this decision, held an International
Symposium from 17 to 19 November 1998,with the participation of 6 ports
in total.

Participation Port List:
Port of Colombo,Sri Lanka
　 Port of Kochi,Japan
　 Port of Qingdao,People's Republic of China
　 Port of Subic Bay,Philippines
　 Port of Tanjung Perak,Indonesia　　　　　　　　　　　　
Port of New Orleans, the USA.

In the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Symposium,
Governor Hashimoto proposed the "Port Network Alliance" concept
based on cooperation among sister ports. The alliance would aim
at exchanging and sharing information on marine transport and port
affairs, studying and discussing potential measures to promote mutual
exchanges, and moreover creating a world scale port network which could
respond the needs of marine transport on the basis of intra-regional networks
consisting of member ports.
Minister Ashraff further developed the proposal and
proposed the establishment of an international network
organization for sister ports, the "International Network
of Affiliated Ports"(INAP).
And this proposal was agreed by participations.