With a view to strengthen the partnership between private sector companies and national and international response systems, as well as to promote better coordination between private sector companies in disaster response activities, A-PAD Sri Lanka in partnership with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), facilitated an interactive workshop on private sector coordination in Disaster Risk Reduction and Development for a crowd of 60 people. Mr Daniel Gilman of the UNOCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific made a presentation on international experiences and response tools available and Mr Firzan Hashim, representing A-PAD Sri Lanka followed up with a presentation of A-PAD’s role in Sri Lanka as a vehicle for the public-private partnership in development and DRR.

Other distinguished speakers included the Director General of the Disaster Management Centre, Major General L B R Mark, who spoke of the government’s role in DRR and how the private sector could compliment the efforts of the DMC and Ministry of Disaster Management.

Mr Mangala Yapa, the Secretary General of the CCC also emphasised that the promotion of better public-private coordination was of paramount importance.

The event encompassed an interactive session where members of the private sector who were in attendance expressed their views on good practices prevailing in the country as well as what in their point of view the private sector could contribute in terms of DRR and development. They also expressed their views on what the humanitarian sector could do to better facilitate the business community.

A-PAD Sri Lanka  http://www.apadsl.org/