The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the premier chamber set up in Sri Lanka way back in 1839, which has developed today into a strong confederation of regional and sectoral chambers of commerce and industry, trade associations, employer organizations and bilateral business councils, has granted affiliated membership to the Business for Peace Alliance. (BPA).

The BPA, Sri Lanka’s regional business network for regional empowerment, conflict transformation and Corporate Social Responsibility, was established five years ago by the regional chambers throughout Sri Lanka. The BPA is a ‘bottom up initiative’, owned and managed exclusively by the regional business community. The BPA, which operated informally in the last four years, was institutionalised in September 2006 and set up a secretariat in Colombo to co-ordinate its activities in all parts of the island.

"The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has been associating closely with BPA since its inception and we have collaborated with BPA in organizing some important joint projects. These projects have had a significant impact. The BPA has also been represented in some of the CCC’s sub-committees, including the Peace and Reconciliation sub-committee and the Public Awareness sub-committee," stated Mahen Dayananda, Chairman CCC.

"Since the BPA has institutionalised itself, we felt that it was fitting that CCC should also formalize its association with BPA by granting affiliated membership to BPA in the CCC," said Dayananda.

Dayananda commended BPA initiatives to network the business community throughout the country, which led to building business linkages and fostering of peace and reconciliation.

He said that the CCC placed importance on addressing the current initiatives connected with the process of peace and reconciliation and BPA’s efforts at regional level complemented the efforts of the CCC in this context.

"The CCC is also collaborating with the BPA in promoting the practice of CSR in the regions. We are working towards the development of the millennium development goals. The BPA is partnering us to create awareness in this regard and implement CSR strategies in the regions," said Dayananda.

BPA Chairman H Wijeyanandana hailed the formalization of the collaboration between BPA and CCC.

"Our network now comprises twenty five (25) regional business chambers in all the provinces in Sri Lanka.

The membership of two of these chambers is made up exclusively of women in business," he said.