Sri Lanka firm to lobby G8 on water

July 3, 2008 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's Hayleys group has joined top global firms to lobby the eight leading industrial nations to make water availability a priority at an upcoming meeting in Japan next week, the company said. Hayleys is one of 19 companies that have signed the CEO Water Mandate, an initiative of the United Nations Global Compact launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007.

Other signatories include the Coca-Cola Company, Levi Strauss & Co., Nestlé S.A., SABMiller, SUEZ Environment, Hindustan Construction Company Limited, SunOpta Inc., Diageo plc, Westpac Banking Corporation and PepsiCo Inc.

Hayleys says it has been appointed to the steering committee of the initiative as one of the first 10 firms to sign the document.

"Hayleys has made water sustainability and stewardship a corporate priority", Hayleys chairman N. G. Wickremeratne said in a statement.

"As an endorser of The CEO Water Mandate, we pledged to provide our inputs and perspectives to public-policy makers on the issue of water."

Hayleys, says its manufacturing facilities consume an estimated 8,500 cubic metres of water per day, and it is committed to lead efforts to secure local corporate sector pledges to m