India, Sri Lanka extend cooperation on science and technology for 3 more years

India and Sri Lanka this week extended the existing cooperation on science and technology for three more years, with a focus on new areas, like waste-water technologies, biotech, sustainable agriculture, aerospace engineering, robotics, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence, as well as industrial collaborations.

The extension and affirmation of new focus were agreed upon at the India-Sri Lanka fifth Joint Committee on S&T Cooperation held on Thursday.

“India and Sri Lanka have a great legacy of intellectual, cultural, and religious interaction and relationship of more than 2,500 years. Trade and investment and cooperation in education and other sectors have gone up in recent times, and in this line, cooperation in S&T becomes very critical,” said India’s Ministry of Science and Technology International Cooperation, Department of Science and Technology (DST) Advisor and Head S. K. Varshney, who led the delegation from the country and was the Indian Co-Chair. “This platform will provide an opportunity for discussing various other facets which are possible for collaboration in the domain of S&T. There are a lot of opportunities available for bilateral cooperation. India offers fellowships like India S&T fellowship, e-ITEC and both the countries can work through a number of multilateral platforms like BIMSTEC, which they are part of,” he added.

State Ministry of Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovations Secretary Deepa Liyange, the Co-Chair from Sri Lanka, reiterated the well-established bilateral relationship between both the countries and welcomed India’s cooperation in S&T sectors and research areas for boosting scientific knowledge in the country.

India’s Deputy High Commissioner Vinod K. Jacob highlighted that as part of India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy which guides the country’s cooperation with Sri Lanka, this meeting would help build on existing collaborative work and help these reach greater heights. He further mentioned that under the e-ITEC program, since April 2020, 550 Sri-Lankan nationals have benefitted from training in various Indian institutions in areas like biotech, medical research, renewable energy, and so on.

“S&T is a key enabler of socio-economic and sustainable development. The tools in science will enable the world to achieve the 2030 agenda of sustainable development, and it is high time we create a conducive environment for S&T and innovation. Strong bilateral cooperation is extremely important for a country’s progress, and Sri Lanka looks forward to a fruitful joint cooperation program,” said Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner in India Niluka Kadurugamuwa.

The delegates exchanged information on the ongoing S&T activities in the two countries. The Indian side presented the overall STI Policy and priority areas by showcasing the core mandates of DST, multi-stakeholder base of DST, India’s recent progress in S&T, as well as focus on securing India’s future in technology through missions like NM-ICPS, NM-QTA, Methanol mission, new initiatives like VAJRA, TARE, Vigyan Jyoti, and Accelerate Vigyan. India’s international S&T engagements were also elaborated upon. The Sri Lankan side also highlighted the scope and status of S&T in their country and its application in various areas of national importance. Organisations like the National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India and Industrial Technology Institute, Sri Lanka detailed the activities performed by the respective scientific agencies and areas of potential collaboration between both the countries.

The delegates reviewed the ongoing collaborative activities in the nine areas spanning food technology; plant-based medicines; meteorology; space research and applications, robotics and automation; industrial electronics, renewable energy; waste management; information and communication technology and discussed future activities.

 The board mutually agreed to extend the Program of Cooperation (POC) for another three years between both countries and identified new areas such as waste-water technologies, industry and biotech, sustainable agriculture, aerospace engineering, robotics, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence to be included in the POC. The need to invite new joint proposals in S&T areas was underlined, and the group recommended conducting more webinars in the wake of the current pandemic situation for enhancing collaborative research and making collaborations stronger.