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I am pleaded to declare open this new main campus and IT park of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). I am told that this would open the doors for about 5,000 youth of this country to be trained in IT at any single time. This will contribute to meet the growing short fall in trained IT personal in this country which to an extent is confounded by the brain drain to other countries.

SLIIT is not merely an IT campus it is an incubator for IT start up companies. It hopes to nurture entrepreneurs towards success and self-reliance.

Key ingredients

This I believe is the key ingredients required by the IT sector to develop and expand to the extent from which it would become the biggest foreign exchange earner to the country. An estimate of Rs. 1 billion by 2010 may not be unrealistic. I trust that the converging technologies exhibition which is also being held concurrently to mark the opening of this new campus.

My colleague Mr. Kingsley T. Wicremartne must be congratulated for taking an active interest in IT and for facilitating the use of the Mahapola Trust Funds for building this new campus. Citing this new campus in the Kaduwela electorate speaks for the resourcefulness of the people in the area.

On the part of the government and on my personal behalf I wish to re-emphasize the importance of instituting systems and solutions to basic human problems. It was only this week that I open the 'Sahaspura' housing complex at Borella, which provides modern shelter facilities to slum dwellers.

I am pleased that I was able to open this campus which caters to the shortfall of human resources for IT. This campus is not likely to remain as the largest or the main campus. We plan to build several campuses of similar magnitude in principle cities across the country and it makes sense in continuing the consolidation of these interlinked sectors beyond the integration of Cabinet portfolios. Some weeks ago I made a statement on ICT policy and convergence.

It is my earnest hope that it will stir discussion and dialogue which could culminate in a formal convergence policy within a few months hopefully by early next year. This should be the platform for further development of this important fast evolving sector or should I term it the tool.

Convergence

Convergence in other words is the disappearance of hitherto existing boundaries between differing technology and networks and thus the transformation of services, economy and finally the way we work and live. The advent of the Internet has helped accelerate this process and bring the benefits of such integration and transformation to most corners of the globe at significant speed. Thus the connectivity and the information it provides enables people in other words enables them to take informed decisions quickly.

Therefore technology and networks are the means to the end.

convergence is not just about technology, Convergence is a debate about the impact of technology and a quantum leap towards a mature information society. Convergence will offer many new opportunities for the citizens to enrich their lives, not just the economic dimension, but the social and cultural ones as well. The global nature and interactivity of new communications media like the Internet are already opening new vistas, far beyond the traditional, national media. Convergence will expand the overall information market and be the catalyst for the next stage in the integration of the world economy.

High costs

One of the areas, which perhaps inhibit the spread of e-commerce and e-governance in Sri Lanka, is the relatively low penetration of internet use in Sri Lanka. As you are aware there are multiple reasons for this. The first and foremost among them is the relatively high costs in comparison the economic potential of the people. A reason, which closely follows, is the lack of telecom access in rural and outlyign areas. I am indeed aware of the several initiatives launched by our government to alleviate this. It includes a subsidy on installation of payphones in rural areas, encouragement and inducement of telephone

When our government was re-elected in October 2000, Her Excellency, the President created a separate Cabinet subject for Information Technology in recognition of the global trends. I was assigned this subject along with Higher Education. You may recall that within a few months of taking over this subject I presented a statement on ICT policy.

The efforts of this ministry concluded in August this year with my statement on ICT policy pronouncing "ICT as an enabler of sustainable Socio-Economic Development".

The most important aspect is the introduction of ICT to all walks of life is to bring a change in the mindset of the people whereby they are empowered to enjoy benefits of modern technology.

With the appointment of the new Cabinet of Ministers in September this year. the President decided to amalgamate the subjects of telecommunications and information technology, in recognition of the significance of converging technologies. Perhaps this is a first step in the process of complete convergence of subjects extending to media.

Sustainable development

The sustainable development of ICT in Sri Lanka cannot happen in isolation since the use of ICT, which has infiltrated into all walks of day-to-day life of general public, to day-to-day activities of Government, to day-to-day activities of business community, and requires a common approach. These characteristics of ICT are instrumental for this convergence policy, covering the entire range of ICT activities in the island. This sentiment was echoed in the G-15 Summit on Information Communication Technology held in Jakarta in the year 2001.

With separate policies for IT and telecommunications dealing with overlapping areas and several institutions spearheading converging technologies, applications and media, it operators to venture out into these areas and providing rural sub post offices telecom access through competitive bidding by the operators. In addition, recently the TRC has in association with the Department of Posts launched 50 tele centre projects to bring the Internet and multi-media to the rural areas.

TRC license

In this regard I am happy to announce that the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the granting of a data communications license to SLIT subject to TRC's procedures. TRC has agreed in principle to grant the license, which I understand, is currently in preparation in earnest. I am confident that the licence will be finalised for issue in a few days. This takes SLIIT leaps and bounds forward as the first company to be earmarked for data facilities, which even includes international and national fibre. Therefore the task before the SLIIT is vast. I am confident that its CEO and staff will live up to the high expectations.

The UNDP's Human Development Report for 2001 speaks of the fact that no country will reap the benefit of network age for waiting for them to fall from the sky.

This is an deal lesson for us. Like we made SLIIT and its new campus here reality in quick time we must take several more strides forward in this regard. I am confident that all of you stakeholders will shoulder the responsibility in taking that step forward.

Finally I wish SLIIT the best in all its endeavour and hope that the people of Kaduwela will benefit from the exhibition which will be open for them till Sunday.

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