Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Tourism, Sri Lanka

Milinda Moragoda currently serves as Minister of Tourism. His career spans business, government, politics and the media. He served as Minister for Economic Reforms, Science and Technology as well as Deputy Minister for Plan Implementation and Development from 2002-2004.  During this period, he played a key role in establishing a ceasefire and initiating peace talks between the Government and the LTTE, and served as one of the principal Government negotiators. He also spearheaded the government’s economic reform programme, and functioned as the principal interlocutor with the international donor community. In addition, he was responsible for giving leadership to developing and implementing Sri Lanka’s ambitious ICT policy, E-Sri Lanka.

He has created and hosted several TV talk show series with the purpose of engaging and educating ordinary citizens on local and global issues affecting their lives. He also contributes a regular column to leading Sinhala and Tamil newspapers.

He is the founder of the Milinda Moragoda Institute for People’s Empowerment (MMIPE), an NGO which established the first local humanitarian de-mining programme in Sri Lanka and of Apeksha, a free English Education Programme for children of low income families. Starting his career as a businessman, he was Founder and Chairman of an investment bank and private equity company.

He holds an MBA from the Institute for Management Development in Switzerland and was a Fellow of the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University in 1995.

He was selected to be a Global Leader for Tomorrow in 2000 and as a Young Global Leader in 2005 by the World Economic Forum.