President declares 16-22 November as ‘National ICT Week’

President Maithripala Sirisena has declared 16 to 22 November as the ‘National Information and Communication Technology Week’. This is the first time that such a special week dedicated to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sphere has ever been declared at a national level in Sri Lanka.

It is in recognition of the significant role the ICT industry plays in the current context, which largely reflects on all spheres of life, and also in honour of the ICT-related national and international conferences scheduled to be convened in Sri Lanka that the President declared this nationally important Week wholly devoted to this sector.

The APICTA – 2015 International Awards ceremony will be held in Sri Lanka during the ‘ICT Week’ from 16 to 22 November. It is a rare honour that amongst all the South Asian nations, Sri Lanka was selected as the first country to host this international parley.

As the largest ICT awards ceremony in the Asia Pacific region, APICTA will be held in Colombo with the participation of around 650+ICT innovators, experts, investors, traders and entrepreneurs from 16 member countries. This global platform is considered the ‘Oscars’ of the ICT sector in Asia.

APICTA Awards were founded in 2001 and it is for the first-ever time in the history that the event will be hosted by Sri Lanka. At present, Sri Lanka is the chair of this regional ICT Alliance. To coincide with the unveiling of APICTA – 2015 Awards, the INFOTEL – 2015 Exhibition, considered the biggest show in the ICT sector, will also be held from 20-22 November at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo.

A turnout of around 100,000 visitors are expected at the INFOTEL – 2015 Exhibition, where approximately 200 leading ICT-related, reputed local and international companies will operate stalls displaying their newest innovations. Many other significant ICT-connected programs have been organised to run parallel with the APICTA-2015 International Awards and the INFOTEL–2015 Exhibition. The key events scheduled for the 16-22 November week include conferences, dialogue forums, meetings between local/international entrepreneurs and students and workshops.

Hosting APICTA – 2015 and INFOTEL – 2015 Exhibition and the related events will give an impetus to Sri Lanka’s ICT industry and boost the country’s image as a top destination in the vital information and computer technology sector. Acknowledging the historical significance of the occasion and its value in terms of relevance and topicality, President Maithripala Sirisena took the initiative to declare 16 to 22 November as the ‘National Information and Communication Technology Week’ in recognition of the important ICT-related events lined up during this period.

Expressing his views on the developments, APICTA Chairman Dr. Dileepa De Silva said: “The ‘ICT Week’ can be described as a fine opportunity to push Sri Lanka to the highest platform amongst the international community. During this historic week, we will be able to unveil Sri Lankan products and services on a bigger scale to the international community. In addition, we can promote our products and services and showcase our talents to the world APICTA – 2015 will bring together leading ICT companies and professionals in the world under one roof. This will provide a window of opportunity for Sri Lanka to attract new investment options, fresh investments, joint business ventures and technology transfers. This is a great opportunity to position our country among the international community.

“We will also be able to lay a solid foundation to achieve our targets in relation to ICT, both locally and internationally. A better opportunity than this initiative will not emerge again. Therefore, we must strive to take the best advantage of this global platform to reap the maximum benefits for the industry as well as the country as a whole.”

The British Computer Society (BCS), the Chartered Institute for IT, Sri Lanka Section, together with the Federation of Information and Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) is hosting APICTA – 2015 in Sri Lanka. ICT Agency (ICTA) acts as the National Partner of these events. Computer Society of Sri Lanka and SLASSCOM too are assisting BCS and FITIS to make this week a success. 

Accordingly, the APICTA – 2015 International Awards ceremony will be held from 18 to 20 November, while the International Awards ceremony will be held on 21 November. The 2015 Business Forum supported by the Export Development Board (EDB) will be held on 20-21 November, while the 2015 Students’ Forum will take place on 20 November.

The INFOTEL-2015 Exhibition will be held on 20-21 November. It has been organised by the Sri Lanka Federation of Information and Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) with the support of ICTA, the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, Higher Education Ministry and the Education Ministry.