Census on migrant Lankan professionals

COLOMBO: Expatriate Lankan professionals engaged in diverse fields of expertise have been requested to register with the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Planning Dr. P.B.Jayasundera indicating their availability to lend their service to the Motherland.

This is sequel to the decision by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to opt for local expertise to spearhead the country's development drive.

A survey is to be carried on all Lankan Professionals and experts who have migrated overseas.

The move is in order to ascertain the pool of Sri Lankan talent currently available overseas and to obtain their service for the Motherland.

The Plan Implementation Ministry has been entrusted the task of obtaining a census of all Sri Lankan professionals and experts in diverse fields whose talents are being obtained by other countries.

President Rajapaksa has already planned to dispense with overseas sponsored feasibility studies for local development projects and instead opt for local expertise at much reduced costs.

The President has stressed that local human resources and expertise should be utilised wherever possible in the country's development sphere while reports on feasibility studies on all such projects should be carried out under local expertise.

He has said that the country has enormous human resources which should be properly channelled into the country's development activities.

He also called on the expatriate community with expertise in various fields to avail themselves of their service towards the country's development.

The President's call was immediately met with praise from architects of Sri Lanka who expressed their willingness to lend their services to the Government.

The cost of carrying out feasibility studies and preparing reports on development projects with foreign expertise is enormous it was pointed out.

The country has vast human resources on par with international standards.

Therefore when the feasibility studies are carried out on various types of development projects, priority would be given to local expertise, the President has emphasised. He also said that in the past the cost of carrying out feasibility studies and planing development projects with overseas expertise proved very costly. This could be negated with the use of local brains.

The President said the Government would be able to save vast financial resources through this exercise.