Rajapaksa tipped to head G-15

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2010, 14:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be taking over the presidency of the Group of Fifteen (G-15) from the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the forthcoming two-day summit in Tehran on 17 May, media in Colombo reported Sunday. Mr. Rajapaksa, who visited Tehran twice during his first tenure, had received extensive credit facility from Iran, enabling Colombo to sustain its foreign exchange at the height of the war.

The G-15 aims to be a bargaining power in dealing with developed countries.

The group was established in 1989 and there are now 17 member states, from a cross-section of countries from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, in the group, comprising Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

The G-15 summit is held every second year. The chairmanship lasts for two years.

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is currently attending 16th Summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which is being held in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.