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Sri Lanka's success in a global economy will depend heavily on how well and how quickly we move on leveraging Information Technology, said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe when he met the World Bank Vice President, M.V. Mushin who was leading a high powered team to review the Road Map for using IT for development.

Associated with the meeting was Minister for Economic Reform, Science and Technology, Milinda Moragoda at Temple Trees last week-end.

Prime Minister Wickremasinghe said that its time for Sri Lanka to match statements and rhetoric with concrete actions. The Government is serious about this and are convinced that the country will be left behind, given the fast pace of globalisation enabled by Information Technology. "We are keen to take IT to every village, to every citizen, to every business and to transform the way Government works by using IT. An aggressive action plan has been prepared and we will mobilise resources from Aid Agencies such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, bilateral donars and from the private sector.

World Bank Vice President, Mushin who is Sri Lankan and the first Sri Lankan to be Vice President in the World Bank's 55-year history, said that many countries were steaming ahead in the use of IT to deliver knowledge services locally and globally. He said that Sri Lanka had one of the highest literacy rates in the world, had extremely impressive IT professionals in the private sector, and a student population thirsty for using IT. This augurs well to move forward.

He said that the World Bank was committed to promoting the use of knowledge based services through the use of IT and will be prepared to partner with Sri Lanka.

Mr. Mushin said that having a nimble, competent and dynamic public - private partnership was critical to the success of the ambitious program set out in the Road Map. 

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