New Executive Director at LKI

The Board of Management of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute (LKI) has appointed Dr. Ganeshan Wignaraja as Executive Director (Actg). 

Dr. Wignaraja joined LKI from the Asian Development Bank in mid-2017 as Chair of the Global Economy Program (supported by Dilmah)—a position he will continue to hold—after a distinguished career of over 25 years in senior research, management, advisory and research positions internationally, including in Tokyo, Manila, London, Oxford and Paris. 

He also serves on the Task Force on the Freedom of Navigation in the Indian Ocean, chaired by the Prime Minister, and is a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Dr. Dinusha Panditaratne has taken on a new role as Non-resident Fellow, after serving three years as Executive Director, during which she implemented a redevelopment of LKI, initiated and envisioned by Mangala Samaraweera while he was Chairman of LKI from 2015 to 2017, and continued since 2017 by the current Chairman Tilak Marapana.

As Executive Director, Dr. Wignaraja will work with LKI’s Board of Management—which includes eminent experts from the private and academic sectors—the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other stakeholders to pursue research of value to shaping Sri Lanka’s foreign policy, to conduct events on pressing foreign and economic policy issues, and to further elevate the profile LKI has developed in recent years as a digital think tank that reaches a range of strategic actors, in Sri Lanka and abroad. LKI is a think-tank that analyses Sri Lanka’s international relations and strategic interests, to provide insights and recommendations that advance justice, peace, prosperity, and sustainability. The Institute reflects the vision of the late Lakshman Kadirgamar by promoting the country’s intellectual profile in foreign policy research and engagement. Over seventy publications on Sri Lanka’s international relations released by LKI since 2016, as well as of LKI’s regular events on foreign policy, are available online at www.lki.lk.