On State Service

Gem sector to reach US$ 1b exports - Amunugama

Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Dr. Sarath Amunugama told the French Television Channel M6 that the Sri Lankan gem sector, which currently earns US$ 500m in exports earning, needs to be developed into a US$ 1 billion sector by 2010. Dr Amunugama described the long history of gems in Sri Lanka, which had a worldwide reputation that went back even to Roman times.

The Minister added that it was important that an equitable price was paid for Sri Lankan gems and that the most modern methods are introduced to determine their value. The French Television Channel M6 is preparing an in depth documentary on the global gem industry that will cover the sector from the mining of gems in Ratnapura to their eventual sale in the exclusive boutiques at the Place Vendome in Paris, where many of the leading names in jewellery are located.

Editor in charge of exclusive stories of M6, Maud Brunuel, carried out the interview of the Minister. Over eight million viewers in France watch M6 and many of its films are also broadcast in other European Union Nations, notably Germany.

About 40 million viewers worldwide watch M6 programmes. Chairman of Gemted Private (Ltd), Marc Dole who will establish a state of the art gem-testing laboratory in Sri Lanka, also participated at the meeting.

Committee to develop tourism in the East

Sri Lanka Tourism in its attempt to develop the East, now liberated after the 22 years of war in the region has set in place a process to fast track the development of Pasikudah, Arugambay, Trincomalee, Nilaveli, Waakarai, Verugal and Kalkudah.

The appointment of the Eastern Province Tourism Development Committee was officially announced last week at a press conference held at the Ministry of Tourism under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Tourism, Faiszer Musthapha who handed over the letter of appointment to Eastern Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan as the member of the committee, to take forward the development work to empower the tourism sector of the East. Leading business persons were also appointed as members of the committee to fast track activities.

Stressing the importance of the committee, the Deputy Minister said, "We need the East, since it has lots to offer for the tourism sector and we have focused on accelerating the development of the Eastern Province within a specific timeframe.

The East, ravaged by the war for 22 years, is now freed and we have a vision to develop the East under the guidance of Tourism Minister, Milinda Moragoda. In a similar manner we intend to work along with other provinces with the help of chief ministers in encouraging tourism development. Sri Lanka Tourism is glad to have the Chief Minister of East, working towards achieving this goal."

Secretary to the Ministry, George Michael in his address said, "We will be taking a lead role in development sharing the power and resources with all provinces and an event like the JATA Fair in Tokyo, where the Eastern Chief Minister attended, set the path to tell the country the model of sharing power and resources."

Eastern Chief Minister said, "We are prepared to work in unity towards our future goals. Development of the East will surely improve the living condition of the people.

To begin with, we will work on the development of areas like Kalkudah, Pasikudah, Arugam Bay and Nilaveli . As we all know East is blessed with many touristic attractions and it will enable us to reestablish those areas to bring direct benefit to the community, that will make the area more attractive for international vistiors to Sri Lanka."

ICTA bags Infotel award

The Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) bagged an award at the Infotel exhibition award ceremony held last Saturday at Trans Asia Hotel, Colombo.

In what was the zenith of the three-day Infotel exhibition held at BMICH the ICTA received the award for the best contribution towards dissemination of information. Minister of Science and Technology Professor Tissa Vitharana giving away the trophy to COO, ICTA Reshan Dewapura commended ICTA for their contribution towards national development using ICT.

According to statistics more than 10,000 people visited the ICTA stall during the three days at the INFOTEL National ICT exhibition. While this was the ninth Infotel exhibition this was the first time that ICTA participated in an Infotel exhibition.

Guest of Honour at the inauguration ceremony of the Infotel exhibition, Minister of Investments, Navin Dissanayake expressed wonderment at the facilities which are being planned to be distributed to all the 1,200 Government Departments in the island. The Minister was also surprised by the ability of the blind to interact in so closely a manner as was manifested at the stall to'normal' persons, thanks to improvement of the Braille system with the help of advancement in information communication technology.

The theme of ICTA's exhibition at the Infotel was 'Future Government'. More spelled out, the concept of 'Future Government' is beyond considerations of who or what individuals or which group or which groups govern the country. It means the government that goes on, irrespective who is at the helm of it, of course with all due respect to the incumbent Head of State and Government. It tries to say what the best Government in the future is scheduled to be.

Summing up the contribution of the ICTA Infotel exhibition stall, ICTA's Chief Operating Officer Reshan Dewapura said: "Our institution was at the receiving end of several laurels at this Infotel exhibition. Every citizen of this country should be able to carry out transactions directly with the government machinery. There should not be any hindrance to this. The most effective tool for bringing together the public and the government institution in this way is information technology. We demonstrated this at our exhibition stall."