A high level team from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna joined by no less than the UN Resident Coordinator Sri Lanka launched the next phase of Sri Lanka industry revolution on 24 January in Colombo.
UNIDO said that it is impressed by the feedback received by Sri Lankan industries for its latest initiative in Colombo. “Sri Lanka’s industry sector contributes 27 percent to its GDP.
The government’s objective is to move the economy from an economy intensively based on resources to an economy based on knowledge-based industries- moving Sri Lanka from “Industry 2.0” and 3.0 to “Industry 4.0” said Vienna based Chief of Regional Division of Asia Pacific UNIDO International Centre, Ralf Bredel on 24 January in Colombo.
UNIDO’s Bredel was addressing the launch event of the new UNIDO Sri Lanka Country Programme 2020-2024 (UNIDOSLCP) themed “Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialisation in Sri Lanka” at Kingsbury, Colombo. J
Joining Bredel at the event were United Nations Resident Coordinator Sri Lanka Ms Hanaa Singer, Sri Lanka UNIDO Focal Point National Director Nawaz Rajabdeen, UNIDO Representative, Regional Office-India Rene Van Berkel, Senior Research and Industrial Policy Officer-UNIDO Vienna International Centre Dr Anders Isaksson,
“The objective of UNIDO’s new country program discussed today, is to see how we can support these endeavours. The ambition is to go beyond just the number of isolated standalone projects to follow a programmatic approach which is also able to make an impact in industrial policy level.
Sri Lanka is in an interim period with general elections slated for April. Still the government wants to focus on technology-change, innovation, and digitizing the economy.
Drawing from broad experiences in other parts of the world UNIDO is very happy to support and to transfer some experiences to Sri Lanka’s national policy framework.
Three programmatic priorities of UNIDO’s Sri Lanka country program are discussed today-industrial policies, support for development of value chains especially in processing, and thirdly engagement of environment.
The signs are that the substance of our cooperation with the country program is right. I should emphasize that UNIDO is not a funding agency but a technical agency.
“Shaping Sri Lanka’s new industrial policy based on the requests and requirements of local industries, adopting green concepts and industrial safety are the pillars of new UNIDOSLCP ’20-’24” said UNIDO Representative, Regional Office-India Rene Van Berkel and added: “This is a major support intervention for Sri Lankan industry sector since the last Country Programme successfully closed in 2015.
The new program is the first such programme for Sri Lanka that involves inclusive and sustainable industrial development.”
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