Many jobs in local market expected with Eastern victory - President

Rafik Jalaldeen

COLOMBO: A large number of job opportunities will be available in the local market during the forth coming years as the entire East is liberated by defeating the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a message.

Youth Affairs Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi read out President Mahinda Rajapaksa's message at the ceremony to launch the National Action Plan for Youth Employment in Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

The National Action Plan for Youth Employment is a great boon for youth seeking employment, the message said.

Direct participation of youth in development tasks helps expedite the country's development and bring a positive attitude among youth towards the future.

"I am pleased to say that a large number of employment opportunities will be available in the country in the coming years due to the liberation of the East," President Rajapaksa said.

"I believe that the Youth Affairs Ministry by inaugurating the National Action Plan jointly with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will bring about more productive employment avenues and will further strengthen all employment generation programmes too," he said in the message.

Labour Minister Athauda Seneviratne said youth unemployment is a global challenge and we have to face it strategically. "We have to prepare our youth to face this challenge strategically and have to create four strategies to face this challenge; employability, employment creation, equality and quality of employment," he said.

The Minister emphasised the importance of skills in the labour market. "We are mismatching demand and supply in the labour market. Only knowledge base employments are rare in the market. We have to enhance their skills", he added.

Minister Seneviratne said: "Many developed countries provide multi skilled youths to tackle the labour market. They combine knowledge with skills. We are still following the old educational system and this should be changed".

The National Action Plan for Youth Employment has been developed through consultation with our tripartite constituents with youth organisations, academia and civil society along with an extensive amount of research inputs, Director of ILO in Colombo Tine Staermose said.

Sri Lanka has taken a vital step to ensure talents and aspiration of youth. They are better educated than ever before and the country has to benefit if knowledge and skills are used as a combination to contribute to economic growth, World Bank Country Director Naoko Ishii said.

"I am glad that the World Bank had an opportunity to join National Youth Organizations, the YEN and the ILO in this corporative effort in formulating this National Action Plan," she added.

Sri Lanka is committed to develop a National Action Plan (NAP) for youth employment. This NAP for youth employment is the outcome of a long process involving various stakeholders and methodologies to bring out a comprehensive and an applicable policy document, Youth Affairs Ministry Secretary S. Wirithamulla said. "The Ministry has undertaken the responsibility and the lead role to facilitate the implementation of the NAP."