Unilever Sri Lanka chairman Carl Cruz and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) country director Jorn Sorensen recently presented a policy action paper for the promotion of public-private partnerships for sustainable development to the President’s Secretary Udaya Seneviratne.
The paper was the direct result of last year’s Unilever–UNGC-UNDP forum which brought together Sri Lanka’s business leaders across a myriad of industries in the private sector, key personnel from the public sector, and key development partners to work on driving mutually beneficial partnerships towards the achievement of key priorities related to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The forum in 2017 discussed the best practices for moving these Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) forward and ensuring their long term sustainability.
Secretary to the President, Udaya Seneviratne said, “It is important to understand that we stand at the precipice of far reaching change and change at that magnitude cannot be achieved by any one entity alone. It needs the cooperation of an entire nation.” Chairman, Unilever Sri Lanka, Carl Cruz said, “The changes required by the SDGs are neither small nor narrow.
Therefore, if we are to achieve these goals we must work together to help the nation realise its vision of a brighter future,” he said. UNDP Sri Lanka Country Director, Jorn Sorensen said, “To achieve sustainable development we will need the government, businesses and development partners working together towards our collective vision for the nation.”