Kingsley at Asian Economic Forum

The BOAO Asian Economic Forum, the most powerful Asian Pacific government and private sector business forum which opened on April 19 is being held in Hainan, China until April 28.

Twenty six countries in the Asia- Pacific region represented at the Forum will in its deliberations take major decisions on important issues such as the world agenda of WTO (World Trade Organization), the World Tourism Organization, UNCTAD, ILO, Asian Development Bank, World Bank and IMF before the finalization of their agendas at global level.

Sri Lanka's Kingsley Wickramaratne is the current honorary chairman of the BFA Advisory Committee, a position he will hold until 2010.

Mr. Wickramaratne is making arrangements for President Mahinda Rajapaksa to address the next BFA conference. The annual conference is attended by five heads of State, foreign ministers, trade ministers and business leaders.

An impressive list of dignitaries has already confirmed their participation at next year's conference including Filipino President Gloria Arroyo, Pakistani PM Shakat Aziz, Chinese Premier Wen Bao, and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, Nobel Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Mohamed Yunus among others.