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Craftsmen to receive maximum benefits - Prof. G. L. Peiris

Over the decades Sri Lanka's handicrafts industry has been nurtured as one being handed over from one generation to another, as a traditional occupation and not as a mere record in books.

However the government is fully focussed on commencing a complete programme in order to develop the local handicrafts industry by infusing modern technology and bringing up the industry to suit the present times whilst enabling those engaged in the industry derive substantial income, said Prof. G. L. Peiris, Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion, Minister of Constitutional Affairs as chief guest having ceremonially opened the handicrafts exhibition and trade fair organised by the Ministry of Central Region Development with the assistance of the Department of Small Industries at Deyyannewala Stadium in Kandy.

The exhibition and trade fair was organised with main objective of securing a market and promoting the products of those craftsmen in the Central, Uva and North Central Provincial Councils coming under the Ministry of Central Region Development.

Tissa Attanayake, Minister of Central Region Development, Mr. A. M. Buddhadasa, Chief Minister of Uva Province, Gunapala Vidanagama, Provincial Council Minister, Ms. Senani Weerakoon, Directress of Small Industries including other Provincial Council Ministers, government officials and craftsmen participated in this ceremony.

Minister Peiris said the biggest problem faced by the handicrafts industry is marketing and the government institutions should be directly involved in getting the finished products marketed, said the Minister.

The craftsmen alone cannot achieve their objectives with the limited resources available to them. It is important that all governments and other related institutions be inter-connected and at the same time protect the identity of the persons involved in the handicrafts industry. What is significant about this trade fair and exhibition according to the Minister is the combined effort of three Provincial Councils which makes it a success," he added.

He said that his ministry has taken steps to restructure the institutional framework of the Board of Investment to ensure better systems to facilitate investors as well as other entrepreneurs and has also launched a programme for the export of fruit and vegetable through the Export Development Board. Accordingly 30 bills are to be brought to parliament soon, on matters having direct impact on the rapid progress of the country's economy, concluded the Minister.

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