Happy days ahead for printing sector – President

Chaminda PERERA

*IT literacy rate increased to 25 percent within three years

*Printing sector can play role in development drive

The Government has created an environment in which the printing industry can thrive in the North and the East sans any terrorist threat, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the inauguration of Collate exhibition and conference organized by the Printers Association of Sri Lanka.

The inaugural ceremony was held at Ceylon Continental Hotel yesterday.

He said the printing sector can derive the benefits with country being reunited following the eradication of terrorism. The President’s speech was read by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka in the absence of the President due to unavoidable circumstances.

The President’s message stated that the printing industry in the North and the East collapsed with the killing of employees in the printing trade in their workplaces by terrorists at the outset of the war.

He said the printing industry needed democracy which could not prevail when terrorists threatened the printers what to publish and what not to in the past.

The President added that the Government ended an era in which the terrorists destroyed printing houses carrying critical views on them (terrorists).

“The stakeholders in the printing industry were skeptical when modern technology was introduced to the industry.

The people welcomed the new technology in the printing sector with open arms,” he said. The President said the people are always ready to stand on par with the latest technology in the world.

He said the traditional printing industry did not collapse and nobody lost employment with the advent of digital technology in the country.

The minor employees attached to publishing houses and printers sometime back had started their own industries on a small scale with the help of digital technology.

President Rajapaksa said that the Government was able to increase the IT literacy rate to 25 percent within three years and the future of the country is based on knowledge.

“The printing sector can play a major role in the Government’s endevour to develop the country as a knowledge hub in the Asian region” , he said.

The Collate exhibition will give a clear picture on how the printing industry in the country evolved with the advent of new technology.

The President said the country should receive honour for protecting and promoting various sectors which are closely intertwined with the printing industry. The Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka wrote the teachings of the Buddha in book form thousands years ago.

He said the printing industry in the country began 270 years ago and the people inherited a history of writing when the printing industry came to Sri Lanka.