18 April 2023 07:21 pm Views - 2442
Whilst highlighting that the engagement with IMF to revive the county’s battered economy is slated to be a highlight successful endeavor, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry said the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe had continued the engagement which he began.
“I was the Minister of Finance during the time during which the county was going through its hardest period and it was I who started engaging with the IMF. President Wickremesinghe continued this exercise. We are sure that our engagement with IMF would be a resounding success,” the Minister said during the launch of the Blockchain Centre in Colombo on Monday.
“We are on the right path towards success where the economy is concerned. Our economy is back on its feet. We have faced lots of challenges in the past with a long civil war, COVID-19 Pandemic and the economic downturn. The government managed to rehabilitate 12,917 ex-combatants in the North. These youth are being taken care by the government. Government is currently paying a dole to them. We need world support to secure a brighter future for them,” the Minister added.
“We also want international assistance to develop the North and East which has been neglected for a long time. We also want to integrate more with India. Accordingly we are looking for increasing flights to India. We will also begin ferry services between India and Sri Lanka shortly. Sri Lanka actually does not want to tie up in one regional block. We want to engage in Business with China, the West and the Middle Eastern nations,” he also said.
State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage said Blockchain Centre is what the youth who called for a system change wanted. “ Blockchain will help Sri Lanka to embrace digital economy. Sri Lanka cannot afford to go back to a position which it enjoyed before the economic crisis. We want to see that Sri Lanka enjoys a better position and engaged with the entire globe,” she said.
Blockchain Centre in Sri Lanka is committed to build a digital economy in Sri Lanka according to its Director Sakthi Rajaguru. He said a sum of USD 100 million has been invested for the Centre in Colombo. Some 5,000 university students and lecturers will be trained in the center on latest information technology. (Yohan Perera)