It Was Lalith’s Concept

The establishment of bilateral trade councils was a concept of the late Trade Minister Lalith Athulathmudali.
Harin Malwatte, Secretary General/CEO, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), told this reporter that the first such council had its genesis in 1978, when Athulathmudali visited Japan, where he mooted the idea of starting a Sri Lanka-Japan Business Council.
This was taken up by the CCC, which, currently has under its aegis 20 such business councils in operation.