The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka recently launched a facility to enable interested private sector organisations to partner and contribute towards procurement of urgent medical supplies and address food security needs, with Hemas Holdings PLC, Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company, Brandix Apparel Limited and Daraz Sri Lanka coming on board to pledge their commitment. Building on this momentum and to encourage further collaboration, a meeting was held yesterday with the engagement of high-level representatives from the private sector including, MAS Holdings Co-Founder and Chairman Mahesh Amalean, Softlogic Holdings PLC Chairman/Managing Director Ashok Pathirage, Hemas Holdings PLC Executive Director/Group CEO Kasthuri Chellarajah Wilson, Hirdaramani Group of Companies Chairman Mahesh Hirdaramani, Ceylon Biscuits Limited Group Managing Director Shea Wickramasinghe, United Nations Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Executive Director Rathika de Silva, Ravin Basnayake, Managing Director – Citi Country Officer/Country Head, Citi Sri Lanka, Akbar Brothers Managing Director Tyeab Akbarally, Hela Apparel Holdings Group CEO Dilanka Jinadasa, HSBC Sri Lanka CEO Mark Surgenor, Amana Bank PLC Vice President Strategy Management and Sustainability Fazly Marikar, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Sri Lanka/Head of CCIB Client Coverage Bingumal Thewarathanthri, Daraz (Alibaba Group) Managing Director Rakhil Fernando, John Keells Holdings PLC President, Executive Vice President and Head – Legal and Secretarial Nadija Tambiah, Virtusa Senior Vice President and Head of Asia Pacific Naresha Supramaniam and Platinum Realty Investments Managing Director/CEO Kishore D. Reddy. 
Co-chaired by Brandix Apparel Limited Group CEO Ashroff Omar, the meeting provided a platform for key private sector partners to share notes on the present situation pertaining to food security and crisis support-related engagements, while encouraging collaboration with the facility, to rally together to support Sri Lanka during this critical time. 

 The meeting was co-chaired by UNDP in Sri Lanka Officer-in-Charge Malin Herwig. The discussion also saw the engagement of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Vimlendra Sharan and UNDP Policy Specialist and Policy and Engagement Team Team Leader Fadhil Bakeer Markar. The private sector in Sri Lanka has historically played a key role in providing support to humanitarian efforts, rebuilding from the devastating effects of the Indian Ocean tsunami, seasonal floods, tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and now, supporting the socio-economic recovery for the most vulnerable communities in the country.