Local Government Symposium

The Local Government National Symposium 2009 will take place at the BMICH today and tomorrow with the participation of 330 local authorities and provincial councils, local government practitioners, academia and the corporate sector, a Local Government and Provincial Councils Ministry release said yesterday.

The symposium will be addressed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the closing day.

The themes at the symposium will be knowledge sharing, identification and dissemination of leading local government practices, policies, laws and by-laws related to local government bodies, inter-governmental and private-public partnerships, the private sector and civil society strengthening local bodies, the release stated. An eminent Indian expert on Local Government, former Minister of Panchayat Raj, Mani Shanker Aiyar will deliver the keynote address the first day.

Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon and Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardena will also address the symposium.

There will also be an exhibition featuring leading practices among local authorities at the symposium featuring leading practices of local authorities.

The Asia Foundation and Australian Agency for International Development are supporting the symposium and the corporate sector in supporting the exhibition, the release said.

(LdeS.)