Sri Lanka benefits from Colombo Plan

Sri Lanka has received 37 scholarships from the Colombo Plan during the year 2007 for the training in various fields such as Drug Advisory, Environment, Private Sector Development, Public Administration and Long-Term Scholarships to meet the capacity development needs of Sri Lanka.

Three Sri Lankans were given long-term postgraduate scholarships in the fields of rural development, agriculture and civil engineering. Sethsiri Kandegedara, Civil Engineer, Road Development Authority has been awarded a scholarship to study for the Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering Programme in the Kasetsart University, Thailand. T. Vijayaretnam, Lecturer, Eastern University, Chenkalady is currently at the Chian Mai University, Thailand attending the Master of Science in Agriculture Systems. Priyanthi de Silva, Development Officer, Ministry of Plan Implementation is attending the Master of Rural Development Management Programme at the Khon Kane University, Thailand.

Six public sector officials participated in the Colombo Plan Environment programmes conducted in collaboration with Thailand. They participated in training in the areas of Hazardous Waste Management, Air Pollution Management, Biotechnology for Toxic Assessment and Control and Health, Environment & Development. Participants were from the key institutions in environment such as, Central Environmental Authority, Municipal Council, Ministry of Health and University.

Sri Lanka also benefited in the area of the public administration. Seven public sector officials were provided opportunities to participate in the training programmes in Malaysia and Thailand.

Two Agriculture Instructors of the Department of Agriculture attended the Training Course on Sustainable Crop Production and three officials attended training courses in Poverty Reduction and Project Evaluation held in Thailand.

In addition, two officials participated in Training Courses on Economic Development and Planning and the Training Course in Leadership and Organisational Management held in the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) of Malaysia.

The Colombo Plan provided short-term scholarships to 12 Sri Lankan officials to attend training courses in private sector development in the areas of SME promotion, industrial development, international trade, agro enterprises and green productivity, held in the institutes of excellence in Korea, Singapore, China, India and Thailand. Recently, four Sri Lankans were given short-term scholarships to train in Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea.

Terrance Sibera and Kithsiri Kumarasingha of the Bureau of Investment (BOI) participated in the Training Programme on Industrial Development Policy held in Seoul, Korea from November 1 to 15, 2007. H.S.T. Somaratna of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and D.L.U. Peiris of the Ministry of Finance & Planning followed the Training Programme on International Trade, WTO and FTA in Seoul, Korea from November 16 to 30, 2007.

These scholarships were made possible by a grant of US$ 50,000 from the Republic of Korea to the Colombo Plan to fund the activities of the Programme for Private Sector Development, mainly to enhance the capacities of private sector and public enterprises of the developing member countries.

Under the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme a total of 595 Sri Lankans received training in various aspects of Drug Demand Reduction and Law Enforcement since 1995.

For 2007, nine Sri Lankans including four personnel from the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board participated in a two-week Regional Training Programme on Drug Treatment, Rehabilitation and Aftercare in Bangkok, Thailand from September 10 to 28, 2007. The Drug Advisory Programme has also provided training materials and equipment to the Sri Lanka Customs to enhance its capacity to combat drug trafficking.