President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take over the Chairmanship of G-15 in Iran

(May 14, Tehran, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapaksa will take over the Chairmanship of the Group of 15 (G-15) from the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the forthcoming G-15 Summit to be held in Tehran on 17th May 2010.

The G-15 today accounts for one third of the global population and consists of some of the biggest economies of the world. Its membership comprises 17 developing countries namely Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The Group which was established during the 9th Non Aligned Summit in Belgrade in September 1989 has as its objective the promotion of greater and mutually beneficial cooperation among developing countries. The Group also regularly reviews the impact of international economic developments and seeks to encourage a productive North-South dialogue aimed at finding ways of dealing with problems, in a cooperative manner.

As the Chair of the G-15, Sri Lanka would be entrusted the responsibility of articulating the aspirations of the developing world. Sri Lanka will also build on the work done by previous Chairs of the Group, to add to South-South cooperation, With some of the world’s fastest expanding economies now being located in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa and in Latin America, observers of the international economic scene perceive that the future market opportunities will arise especially in those regions. Accordingly, the growth of trade and economic co-operation among the nations of the South would benefit all developing countries, including Sri Lanka.