National Archives, memory of the nation - Minister

Priyanka Kurugala and Natalee Cristal Struys

The National Archives is the memory of the nation. Preservation of the National Archives is one of the major responsibilities of each country, National Heritage Minister Dr Jagath Balasuriya said.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of South West Asian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (SWARDICA) and workshop on Electronic Records Management at Hotel Galadari.

"Sri Lankan National Archives also serves as the legal depositary of the country. It preserve every printed publication, every newspapers of the country. People can see that there are many e- books and e-news papers at present. All people of the country are interested and they are familiar in using computers," he said. Minister Balasuriya said since technology has grown fast, the software and hardware might become obsolete after short durations.

The Government tries to make this country the hub of development in the five fold areas. These areas are naval, aviation, trade and commerce, power and energy, and knowledge.

These development programs will be launched under the concept of Mahinda Chinthana.

Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga said, that e-Recoding is now progressing in Sri Lanka with new technology. Approximately 6.7 million documents of birth, marriage and death have been e-recorded in the Colombo district. This will be of great benefit to everybody.

He said, a lot of space can be saved by e-recordings documentation. Keeping documents as e-recoded is safe, reliable and time saving.

"Record management is an essential reason to draw plans to develop a country. However after having lost good development time for 30 years, at present the country is coming to a progressive stage," Weeratunga said.

National Archives Sri Lanka Treasurer and South West Asian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (SWARBICA) Director Dr Saroja Wettasinghe, SWARBICA President Ali Akbari Ashari and SWARBICA Secretary Genaral Habib Ahmad Khan also addressed the conference.