Develop science and technology: Minister Amunugama

“Sri Lanka which has scored high marks in the Millennium Development Goals is now poised to attain the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by more than 150 world leaders at the UN Summit in New York in 2015,” said Minister of Science, Technology and Research, Skills Development and Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage Dr. Sarath Amunugama in a statement at the Science and Technology Ministers Round Table held in Kyoto, Japan last week.

The Minister said that gender equality, high life expectancy, low infant mortality and high literacy which were among the Millennium Development Goals have been achieved by his country. However, in promoting the next phase of Sustainable Development Goals the country will have to place more emphasis on the role of Science, Technology and Innovation. For this purpose the prevailing education system had to be revamped in order to give more emphasis to science and technology education and training. 

He said that his ministry had taken measures to double the intake of technology students to the country’s vocational training institutions. At the same time, the curriculum for Vocational Training is being revised to bring them more in line with international standards. Since there is a dearth of trained scientists and technologists in Sri Lanka, steps should be taken to rapidly improve this situation in order to stimulate infrastructure development. He said that SDI could not develop in isolation but must be related to the economic growth of a country. 

SDI is an integral part of economic growth and those countries that lag behind in Science and Technology will fail and remain poor. Economic growth requires technology transfers and without a core of a local science and technology qualified people, developing countries will not be able to promote growth.

Dr. Amunugama also said that there is a great imbalance in science and technology fields between developed and developing countries. This gap is being increased daily and many small countries are left behind. He urged the ministers of advanced countries attending the conference, to take special measures to encourage SDI in the poorer countries. Such technology transfers will help developing countries to leap frog into the future the Minister said. He also said that multi-lateral institutions too should pay greater attention to the needs of STI when they undertake development assistance.

The Kyoto Meeting was attended by 42 Science and Technology Ministers from all regions in the world.