Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, says that as the world market is shrinking, we are unable to make a tangible impact other than behaving in the current situation.
“Today, the world market has contracted. Whether we like it or not, we cannot control the world market situation. Other than behaving in the existing situation, we cannot make a noticeable impact on the world market. Therefore, at this challenging time, we should see the need to think about economic realities from an economic point of view and work together to find economic solutions for them. We have a group of industrialists that we can be proud of,” said Dr. Bandula Gunawardena.
He said this while participating in the “2023 National Industry Exhibition” today (25), which is the last day of the National Industry Week announced from June 22 to June 28.
It was inaugurated at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall with the participation of Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media Dr. Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Tourism and Lands Harin Fernando, Acting Defense Minister Pramitha Bandara Thennakone and Minister of Plantations and Industries Dr. Ramesh Pathirana.
This is being conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Industrial Development Board.
This huge exhibition, which involves micro, small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale entrepreneurs representing 20 industrial sectors in Sri Lanka, consists of 750 exhibition booths.
Participating in this event, the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena said that although the industrialists had to face the economic crisis in the country due to the Corona epidemic, they are happy that many industrialists have successfully faced the challenge.
Anagarika Dharmapala, a visionary national hero of that time, was the one who clearly said that if our country is to rise, there must be development in the industrial sector. He is the one who sent Sri Lankans abroad to start industries in Sri Lanka and gave them the necessary knowledge and training and supported them to start industries in Sri Lanka. We should express our gratitude to him.
The minister further commented, “There are three sectors that contribute to production. They are agriculture sector, industry sector and service sector. According to economic conclusions, it is clear that a country develops when the contribution of the industrial sector to the national product increases. But unfortunately, the contribution of the industrial sector in our country has not increased. And the information technology industry that we can export as invisible industries. Our neighboring country, India, receives more than 200 billion US dollars from IT exports per year. Sri Lanka receives US$ 1.7 billion from our IT product exports. “We need to take the necessary steps to increase this to at least 10 billion US dollars,” he added.
This exhibition is organized with the aim of encouraging industrialists, introducing new technology for industries, encouraging innovation, creating market opportunities, bringing together hundreds of domestic and foreign entrepreneurs, suppliers, buyers, creating a large space for new industries and creating new entrepreneurs.
