Biz leaders meet Lord Mark Malloch-Brown

Top Sri Lankan business personalities met Lord Mark Malloch-Brown at a dinner in Colombo recently. It was organised by the Horton Debate Society.

The chairman of the society, Ranjan Hulugalle, Sir Desmond de Silva, Rukman Senanayake, Ananda Atukorala, Mahen Weerasekara, Sheamali Wickramasingha, Hanif Yusuf, Anosha Subasinghe, Vinod Hirdaramani and Mack Gill were also present.

A former number two in the United Nations, Mark Malloch-Brown served in the British Cabinet and Foreign Office. He was Deputy Secretary-General of the UN under Kofi Annan and Administrator of the UNDP.

He has been a Vice-Chairman of George Soros' Investment Funds and his Open Society Institute, a Vice President at the World Bank, and Vice Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

He outlined the international context of challenges that Sri Lanka faced and the rapidly evolving developments in Europe. He also answered questions from the audience. On the boards of several companies and non-profit organisations, Mark Malloch-Brown is the author of The Unfinished Global Revolution. In 2005 Time Magazine put him on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Hulugalle said the Horton Debate Society organises opportunities for Sri Lankans to interact with international personalities to promote networking and developing Sri Lanka's economy.

The group [email protected] has organised several events this year with former and current Prime Ministers of developed countries, economists on the world stage, and members of the European Parliament.

Several high profile international figures are due to visit the Sri Lanka in the coming months and further networking events would be held with them, the organisers said.