Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed admiration for India’s digital achievements, mentioning it as a model worth emulating. Speaking at a conference in Colombo on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), President Wickremesinghe emphasized the need for partnership with India, highlighting the potential to save years in development by accepting India’s digital policies.
For Sri Lanka’s digital future, President Wickremesinghe outlined his vision, by showing the importance of digital public infrastructure. We want to move forward and I want to implement and hope we get all the support. A change has to be made and it’s very important to join the 21st century. He also mentioned that we have to go ahead and do the same justhow as India has done.
Emphasizing specific initiatives, Wickremesinghe mentioned the summary of Artificial Intelligence in schools and the establishment of an institutional framework for a digital economy. He also showed gratitude for India’s assistance in the opening of an IIT branch in Sri Lanka, which will be the third foreign campus of IIT after Tanzania and the UAE.
Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha, emphasized the collaborative efforts between the two countries in advancing digital infrastructure. He referenced to India’s support of the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity Project (SL-UDI), akin to India’s Aadhaar, as a symbol of this partnership. Both leaders agreed to leverage India’s DPI by Sri Lanka’s necessities and priorities, towards efficient delivery of citizen-centric services, says Jha.
Jha further highlighted India’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka’s digital transformation, noting the inclusion of DPI in bilateral joint statements and vision documents. The conference was organized by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Technology.
