The government of Japan has provided grant aid worth approximately Rs.611 million (Yen 284 million) for Sri Lanka’s Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) project. This project aims to train young executive officers in the public sector at various universities in Japan and develop their skills to qualify them as future national leaders in their fields.
During the visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi, ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka Hideaki Mizukoshi and Secretary, ministry of finance K. M. M. Siriwardana, signed the Exchange of Notes for the said project in the presence of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at Temple Trees in Colombo.
Seventeen public sector officials will be sent to pursue a two to three-year Master’s or PhD degree from 2024 under the project. Areas of their degrees cover public policy, macroeconomics, public finance and investment management, industry development policy and investment promotion, and urban and regional development. The JDS project has supported 205 public sector officials in Sri Lanka since its inception in 2010.
PM Dinesh Gunawardena said the high-level visit from Japan to Sri Lanka was very useful to explore potential projects on ports, airports, railways, renewable energy, maritime cooperation and mutual efforts to heighten private sector tie-ups as important areas.
He discussed with the Japanese Foreign Minister the ongoing debt restructuring process, which is co-chaired by the Japanese government, and supported by India, France and other donor countries.
The Prime Minister recalling that the previous government made a mistake in suspending the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) project and called upon Japan to have further discussion on resuming the project and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi agreed to consider it as a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) project.
JDS partnerships are also expected to solidify foundations to further bilateral relations with Japan and succeed as a bridge between both countries by utilising their human network developed through academic and social activities while in Japan.
As a long-standing friend, Japan has placed great emphasis on assistance in human resource development via many capacity-building and skills development programs in order to accelerate long-term sustainable economic development.
“As various endeavours such as reforms on revenue and expenditure, state-owned enterprises as well as the eradication of corruption are expected to be implemented this year, the year 2023 would mark a milestone in kicking off the rebirth of the Sri Lankan economy. We sincerely hope that all of them will strengthen the connection among them and contribute to helping rebuild Sri Lanka by capitalising on what they learned after they return to their home country,” the Japanese embassy said.
