The appointment of new chairpersons and members of the board of directors for the institutions under Ministry of Science, Technology and Research was carried out with the guidance of Hon. Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe at the Ministry Auditorium.

Accordingly, Dr. A. M. Mubarak as the Chairman of the National Science Foundation and Prof. S. S. Neluka Fernando, Prof. D. Weerakoon, Prof. Aloka Pathirana and Ms. Ayanthi Gurusinghe as board members of the same were appointed.

Prof. Upul Sonnadara was appointed as the Chairman of the Arthur C Clarke Institute, while Prof. Chandana Jayaratne, Prof. Rohan Munasinghe, Dr. Charith Giragama and Mr. Murad Ismail were appointed as Directors to the Board. Prof. Janaka de Silva was appointed as Chairman of the National Research Council and Prof. Kamaldeen, Prof. Veranja Karunarathna and Prof. Panniyamurthi Ravirajan were appointed as Directors to the board.

Professor Athula Perera was appointed as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board and Professor Asitha de Silva was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Jehan Cassim was appointed as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Standards Institution while Dr. Lalith Senaweera and Ms. P. S. M. Charles were appointed as members of the Board of Directors.

Prof. Ramani Wijesekara and Anil C. de Silva and Dr. Nishantha Nanayakkara were appointed as the Board members of the Industrial Technological Institute.

Mr. P. Parathalingam was appointed as the Chairman of the National Intellectual Property Office while Ms. Suganthi Kadirgamar, Prof. Ajith de Alwis, Mr. Chandaka Jayasundara, Mr. Iraj De Silva, Ms. Pershaana Jnell, Mr. Milhan Mohamed and Mr. Aritha Wickramasinghe were appointed as Directors to the Board.

The Minister also called on the new appointments to translate the new research knowledge into innovations through the establishment of the coordination of state and private sector institutions with the objective of reducing the distance between the technology and the research field and the general public and bring them closer to the people. Parliamentarian Mr. Ashu Marasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Science Technology and Research Mr. Chinthaka Lokuhetti and a large gathering were also present on the occasion.