Dushni Weerakoon is the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS). Her research and publications chiefly focus on regional trade integration, macroeconomic policy, and international economics. She has extensive experience in economic policy formulation, serving as a member of the Macro and Trade Policy Steering Committee of the Ministry of Policy Development and Implementation (2002–2004), an official delegate to the Committee of Experts to negotiate the South Asian Free Trade Agreement under the Ministry of Trade and Commerce (2004–2005) and member of the Trade and Tariff Committee of the National Council for Economic Development (NCED) of the Ministry of Finance (2004–2010), amongst others. She holds a BSc in Economics from the Queen’s University of Belfast, UK, and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, UK. Sisira Jayasuriya is a Professor of Economics at Monash University, Australia. He is adevelopment economist with a focus on economic policy issues in Asia. He has held previous appointments at the International Rice Research Institute (Philippines), the Australian National University, Melbourne University and La Trobe University, and has been a consultant to the Asian Development Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute, World Bank and several United Nations agencies such as ESCAP, FAO and ILO. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics at the Australian National University, Canberra, and the Institute of Social and Economic Studies, Osaka University, Japan, as well as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow, National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi. Prof Jayasuriya holds a BA (Hons in Economics) from the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya), and a Masters and PhD from Australian National University.
