Waruna Sri Dhanapala

Organization:	MTDI and Foreign Employment, Sri Lanka
Affiliation:	GAC
Region:	Asia
Country:	Sri Lanka
Email:	warunatr@gmail.com
LinkedIn:	Waruna Sri Dhanapala
Twitter:	@warunatr

Mr. Waruna Sri Dhanapala is an officer of Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) since 2000 and currently serving as the Senior Assistant Secretary (ICT for Development) in the Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment.

He represented several national committees including the ICT Industry Skills Council, National Broadband Committee, National Administrative Reforms Council and the Steering Committee of the Knowledge Hub Initiative of Sri Lanka. He currently coordinates several policy initiatives and national projects on the digitization of the economy. Among other responsibilities, he was recently designated as one of Sri Lanka’s alternate representatives to the ICANN Government Advisory Committee (GAC). He is also in charge of the ICT commitments of Sri Lanka's National Action Plan of Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Mr. Dhanapala served as the Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York during 2012-2014. During this diplomatic posting, the UN General Assembly elected him as Vice Chair of the Second Committee (Economic & Finance) for its 68th Session, representing the Asia-Pacific Group. He was responsible for several key Resolutions, including ICT for Development, Science and Technology for Development, South-South Co-operation, Globalization and Interdependence.

He also represented Sri Lanka in the negotiations of the historic UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and the United Nations Open Working Group on formulating Sustainable Development Goals (OWG-SDG)

Mr Dhanapala holds Masters Degree in International Development Studies from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) of Japan and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology and Computer Science from the University of Peradeniya and a Master's in Public Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).