Sri Lanka Embassy in US hosts interactive discussion on IT sector

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the US Mahinda Samarasinghe hosted a dialogue between State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath, and members of the Sri Lankan community from the field of information technology (IT), entrepreneurs and professionals residing in the US.

The meeting was held last Friday (8) at the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington DC. It was convened to encourage investment in IT-based industries in Sri Lanka by sharing the vision and progress towards developing the digital economy of Sri Lanka. They were also briefed on the planned global summit on digital development in June 2024 under the aegis of the ‘DIGIECON 2030’ initiative. 

The discussion also provided an opportunity to receive ideas and views from Sri Lankans in the US on how they might contribute to the digital development of Sri Lanka.

In his introductory remarks, the Ambassador highlighted the digitalisation of government and the economy in the context of economic revival, instilling efficiency and recovery from the challenges of the recent past. 

He welcomed the participation of nearly 60 participants in the dialogue most of whom joined the forum online. 

Samarasinghe stated that the presence of State Minister Herath provided an ideal opportunity for those interested to learn about Sri Lanka’s efforts to develop the IT sector and to collaborate with Sri Lanka’s Government agencies and the private sector in projects and initiatives to develop the field. 

The Ambassador also highlighted the ongoing economic progress in Sri Lanka and cited positive sentiments expressed by the US Government and multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.

 State Minister Herath made a detailed presentation on new initiatives in the digital development drive in Sri Lanka. He was joined by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka Sachindra Samararatne. 

The State Minister outlined the six key pillars of Sri Lanka’s policy and welcomed investment, cooperation and support from Sri Lankans in the United States.

 Embassy of Sri Lanka in the US Minister (Commercial) Charitha Yattogoda, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of MIT Principal Investigator and entrepreneur Prof. Saman Amarasinghe, Accenture LLC Global Managing Director Pracash Thiyagarajaa, and member of the AI Policy Committee Lakmini Wijesundera also made brief interventions.

 A detailed question and answer session ensued, moderated by Ambassador Samarasinghe, during which the participants expressed their ideas and proposals that were taken note of by the State Minister and his team. The participants expressed their willingness to work with Sri Lanka and appreciated the initiative of engaging with them to discuss this critical aspect of digital development.

 The Ambassador expressed hope that the State Minister and his office would follow up on the various ideas and proposals that shared during the discussion with other Government agencies to streamline the digital transformation in Sri Lanka. 

He assured the participants that the Embassy was fully committed to coordinating this process.