Milinda for high-level parley in New York

COLOMBO: The High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor which includes Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda will hold its fourth meeting in New York from July 11 to 14.

Minister Moragoda left on Saturday for the United States to participate in the committee meeting and while in New York he is expected to meet new World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick and USAID acting Head Henrietta H. Fore to see how he could present Sri Lanka’s update to them.

Commission members include British Prime Minister Gordon Brown former president of Brazil Ferando Cardoso, Presidnet of Tanzanian Benjamin Mkapa; former president of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo President of Harvard University Lawrence Summers.

The High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor is a new, independent global initiative - sets out to explore how nations can reduce poverty through reforms that expand access to legal protection and opportunities for all.

The Commission’s unique mission is built on the conviction that poverty can only be eradicated if governments give all citizens, especially the poor, a legitimate stake in the economy by extending the rule of law, making access to users’ and property rights and other legal protections not the privilege of the few but the rights of all citizens.