Kingsley attends BOAO Forum

The BOAO Asian Economic Forum, the most powerful Asian Pacific Government and Private Sectors Business Forum which began in the Province of Hainan, P. R. China on April 19 will conclude on April 28.

Twenty - Six countries in the Asia-Pacific region are taking major decisions on vital issues such as on the world agenda of WTO (World Trade Organisation), of the World Tourism Organisation, UNCTAD, ILO, Asian Development Bank, World Bank and IMF before the finalisation of their agendas at global level.

Former Southern Province Governor Kingsley Wickramaratne together with former Prime Minister Bob Hawke of Australia and former President of the Philippines General Fidel Ramos set up the first ever NGO in China in 2000. Wickramaratne is the current Honorary Chairman of the BFA Advisory Committee, a position he will hold till 2010.

He would be making arrangements for President Mahinda Rajapaksa to address the next BFA Annual Conference as Chief Guest and deliver the keynote address.

At every Annual Conference, there are five Heads of State with Foreign Ministers. Trade Ministers, other Ministers and top business leaders.

The Heads of State who will participate in the next Conference are Gloria Arroyo, President of Philippines, Shankat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Sergy Terechenko, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan and Wen Bao Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China.

The business leaders are Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, Mohamed Yunus, Nobel Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, Kevin Watts, chairman, Merrill Lynch International Ltd., Michael Treschow, Chairman Sony-Ericsson Group and Chairman of Volvo Corporation, Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile, Wei Jiafu, CEO of COSCO Group and Zhu Min, President, Bank of China.