WEF in Davos recognises Asanga as a Young Global Leader from Sri Lanka

During the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this year, 192 exceptional individuals around the world received their official nomination as Young Global Leaders.  Asanga Abeyagoonasekera was selected from Sri Lanka as an emerging Young Global Leader.

This new global undertaking, The Forum of Young Global Leaders, brings together outstanding leaders, aged 40 years or younger, who have committed to devote part of their knowledge and energy over the next five years to collectively work towards a better future.



The Selection Committee, chaired by Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, has chosen the candidates after carefully screening the profiles of thousands of young leaders from every region of the world and from a myriad of disciplines and sectors.

Reflecting the diversity of stakeholders, the Young Global Leaders nominated in 2012 comprise political leaders, ministers and parliamentarians. The nominees from the business sector mostly included chief executive officers and successful entrepreneurs. The other stakeholders consist of intellectual leaders, societal leaders, active opinion leaders and cultural leaders.

Asanga is presently the Executive Director of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations & Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS), the premier national think tank of Sri Lanka. He was the Chairman, Fishery Harbours Corporation from 2005-2010 and Chairman, Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency 2010-2011.

Prior to the Government sector, he was in the telecommunication sector. Asanga has an MBA and BSc from Australia, executive education from Harvard and he is a Golden Key International Scholar for his outstanding academic excellence. His primary education was at St. Thomas’ Preparatory School and Ananda College.  

Asanga is the only son of late Ossie Abeyagoonasekera, Leader of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP), MP and presidential candidate who was assassinated by the LTTE in 1994 when Asanga was 16 years old. Since then Asanga believes in and works on building harmony between diverse ethnic and religious communities.