President meets ministry secretaries

• President says great responsibility lies with ministry secretaries to make Government’s development process efficient

 A meeting between President Maithripala Sirisena and the secretaries to ministries was held at the Presidential Secretariat on 27 August. 

During this meeting, the President emphasised that ministry secretaries had a vital role to play in making the Government’sdevelopment process efficient.

The progress of the development programs implemented at the ministerial level was also reviewed at this meeting.

Also discussed were the programs implemented to present new proposals to increase the Government’s revenue, the creation of new paths to receive income, the contribution to the national economy and expenditure management at state institutions.  

Furthermore, steps had been taken to appoint an Additional Secretary to each ministry to evaluate and implement the bilateral agreements entered into during the official visits of the President to foreign countries and during this meeting the progress of those tasks was also reviewed.

The President pointed out the need to maintain a systematic methodof public relations and emphasised the importance of giving prominence to the grievances and requests of the people. He said that it was mandatory that on Wednesdays the secretaries of all the ministries be in their offices to meet the public.

Moreover, the President stressed the importance of every ministry maintaining a website and constantly interrelating the information regarding the official duties of the ministry, and the development plans launched.

The contribution made by the ministries on the most prominent projects of the government, namely Grama Shakthi, Gam Peraliya, Enterprise Sri Lanka, National Food Production Program and the National Tree-planting program, were also finalised.

The President said that it was the duty of the secretaries of the ministries to reduce the cost of living of the people and provide them with benefits by taking efficient and necessary decisions within the programs to provide the public with a better livelihood.

Secretary to the President Udaya R. Seneviratne was also present at the event.