IT savvy officers, need of the hour - Naveen

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

Sri Lanka needs well educated and IT savvy persons to work as officers in the public sector in the current development process. All officers working in the public sector should improve their IT skills to facilitate this process, Public Management Reforms Minister Naveen Dissanayake said.

The whole world is being transformed with the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ITC). Sri Lanka should also face this challenge in a successful manner to achieve the government's vision of making Sri Lanka the knowledge hub of Asia, he added. The minister was addressing SAARC's Annual Government Transformation Summit (FutureGov SAARC Summit-2012) in Colombo on Thursday.

FutureGov SAARC Summit-2012 was organised by FutureGove Asia Pacific magazine along with the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).

The summit showcased new developments in the public sector service delivery from around the world and provided a platform for Sri Lankan public servants to meet and interact with national and international peers.

"The government has implemented an islandwide development programme and spent a large sum on these programmes. Sri Lanka has to fulfill a number of goals to become a developed country. Promoting Information Technology culture in Sri Lanka will help meet the above aims efficiently," the minister said.

The forum covered strategies on how to align technology investment with agency priorities to create infrastructure and establish an enabling environment to implement e-government services, thus, creating effective and efficient e-Governance. "This is the time to take Sri Lanka to the next level of ITC. The government needs to implement ITC in a very correct and effective manner," MP Harsha de Silva said participating in the VIP panel discussion at the FutureGov SAARC Summit-2012.

FutureGov Asia Pacific Magazine Editor-at-large Laurence Millar was the moderator of the discussion.