President’s Secretary urges public sector participation in e-Asia 2009
Presidential Secretary, Lailith Weeratunga has written to all Secretaries of Ministries and Heads of Departments encouraging them to attend the e-Asia 2009 Conference along with the key officers of their Ministries and Departments.
In a circular issued this week addressing all Secretaries of Ministries and Heads of Departments Mr. Weeratunga emphasises the importance of e-Asia 2009 to the individual and the nation and urges their attendance along with their key officers.
In an implementation of the technique of instruction by example the President’s Secretary underlines in the said circular the importance of e-Asia 2009, an event close to the President’s sentiments as he appeals: “Please consider this request with a high degree of importance as this event is being organised under the patronage of His Excellency the President who will inaugurate the event on 2nd December. I wish to meet with key Government leaders such as yourselves during the conference which I plan to attend as extensively as possible.
e-Asia 2009, the fourth in the series, Conference and Exhibition, themed ‘Opportunities for Digital Asia’ will be held at the Colombo BMICH from 2 to 4 December 2009.
“This event provides a great opportunity for leaders of our Government to learn, experience and share the wealth of knowledge at this event. This will provide you with the necessary insight to partner in the future development of not only your ministry and Departments but also the nation. Therefore, I wish to encourage you to participate at the conference along with other key officers of your Ministry and /or Department/Agency”, the President’s Secretary states in the said circular.
Noting with satisfaction the fruition of four-years of implementation of the Mahinda Chintana policy statement of which the hosting of e-Asia 2009 by Sri Lanka is one of the top manifestations, Mr. Weeratunga says: “The Government’s vision for ICT led development as embodied in the ‘Mahinda Chintana’ policy document is bearing fruit and the importance that the Government has placed on this sector for our national development is made even clearer as the year 2009 was declared the ‘Year of English and IT’ .
“Sri Lanka has been making steady strides in using ICT for Development (ICT4D) in the recent past and we have had good successes. This is now being reflected internationally in various indicators. The Government Information Centre (GIC-1919), Lanka Government Network (LGN), Nenasala (Telecentre Network) are some highlights. Other Asian countries too have been implementing large scales projects in this sphere both at national and state level and benefits of these efforts are already emerging. Asia is leading this arena globally in my view, due to the high intellectual capital and the ingenuity that exist within our people”, the circular to the top personnel in the public sector says in a succinct roundup of Sri Lanka’s ICT achievements within the past four years of which e-Asia 2009 hosted in Sri Lanka may very well be an appropriate zenith.
The circular spelling out the salient features of the upcoming premier ICT event of the region says: “In this context, “e-Asia 2009’: Opportunities for Digital Asia” is a unique gathering of approximately 1500 global visionaries, innovators, practitioners and policy makers from the private sector, government, multilateral agencies and civil society who are willing to share knowledge and build partnerships in a single platform.
“This Annual event has been successfully held since 2006 in Thailand and Malaysia. E-Asia 2009 will be held during December 2-4, 2009 at the BMICH in Colombo and it will provide the right opportunity for stakeholders in this arena to share and engage through active conferencing and networking. E-Asia 2009 will comprise unique thematically inter-related conferences in the domains of five thematic areas viz: e-Governance, Digital Learning, e-Health, Telecentres and Emerging e-Technologies. We also envision the participation of key leaders in these related fields from across the world representing diverse backgrounds.
Extending the horizons of the significance of the event from the regional to the international, Mr. Weeratunga attests: “I believe this conference is a great opportunity for those in the forefront to share expertise, best practices and learning. I also believe that the rest of the world will certainly be interested in partnering with Asia in this exercise as it provides great opportunities during these tough times.
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