Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, elected as Chairman of CTO at 50th Council Meeting

16 09 2010 - 16:30 PM

Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President and Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) at the 50th Council Meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from September 16-17, 2010.

As the President's Secretary, Mr. Weeratunga is the foremost civil servant in the country and the de facto head of the Public Service.  Mr. Weeratunga received his primary education at Rahula College, Matara and secondary education at Royal College, Colombo.  He graduated from the University of Colombo, with a Bachelors degree and received a MBA from the same University.  Being a career officer in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS), he was Secretary to the Prime Minister, prior to becoming the Secretary to H.E. the President in November, 2005.  Mr. Weeratunga is also the Chairman of the UN-ESCAP Committee of ICT experts in the Asia Pacific region.

With its historical beginning as the Pacific Cable Board in 1901, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) is a pre-eminent international ICT organization that draws its membership from all Commonwealth countries (Full Member country membership) and entities, whose functions and activities are compatible with the purposes of the CTO (Sector membership).  This two tier membership structure is designed to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships that are crucial for the development of ICTs.

CTO delivers unique knowledge sharing programmes on the use of Information and Communication technologies (ICT) in specific areas of telecommunications, information technology and broadcasting as well as the internet within the Commonwealth countries.

With its headquarters based in London and recipient members based in Europe, the Caribbean, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific region, the CTO has been at the centre of continuous and extensive international communications development funding, co-operation and assistance programmes. CTO comprises 50 full and associate Commonwealth member countries. The CTO’s mission is to reduce global poverty through the more efficient utilization of ICTs, and its development agenda reflects the priorities specified in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Commonwealth International Telecommunication Union Group in its meeting from September 9-10, 2010, discussed strategies for Commonwealth member countries of the ITU to harmonise their views and positions on matters within the ITU.

The 8th Annual CTO Forum was held from September 13– 15, 2010 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

TRCSL hosted the CIG, the 8th Annual Forum and 50th Council Meeting of the CTO. This is the second consecutive year that CTO and ITU joint events were held in Sri Lanka.  ITU had expressed confidence that this would be a role model for future events.