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Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva, Foreign Affairs Secretary Esala Weerakoon and Consular Division Director General Ganegamarachchi
Sri Lanka’s premier and award winning technology conglomerate, Epic Technology group, synonymous for innovative technology solutions has once again proved its technology dominance by re-energising the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a state-of-the-art eDocument Attesting System (e DAS).
Endorsing its vision to transform Sri Lanka to a digitally empowered nation, this project was procured and managed under the leadership the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA).
Citizens of Sri Lanka who use this system will experience a new level of customer service like never before at the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This new technology implementation at the Consular Department will enable citizens to get their source documents and certificates attested and certified within a maximum time span of 15 minutes, a process which used to take six to eight hours earlier.
The consular division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs serves on an average of 500 citizens per day who require attesting and certifying their documents. The department examines and certifies 1,200 to 1,500 documents per day. With this new (eDAS) system, the general public would spend only a maximum time of 15 minutes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while it reduces the cost of transaction to a bare minimum.
The 2nd phase of enhancements to this system is already under consideration, where, with the enhancements, the citizens could even get prior appointments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, if they intend to visit the consular division on a specific date to obtain their services by simply dialling 1995.
This fully integrated system will connect all major governmental institutions such as the Examinations Department, Department of Education, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Registrar of Persons Department, Embassies and Foreign Missions, etc. for real time verification and authentication of source documents within seconds.
Speaking at the launch of this National Service, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Epic Technology Group Dr. Dehigama said: “I am proud that Epic Technology Group has been able to join hands with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ICTA to deliver this superior state-of-the art solution, which will directly benefit the citizens of Sri Lanka. This is a revolutionary solution that will touch the hearts of many citizens. I also would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Harsha de Silva, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, who lead the project from the forefront pushing and guiding everyone towards the goal. Also, the ICTA led by Muhunthan Canagey played an extraordinary role in making this dream come true.”
He added: “We take pride in being a 100% home grown entity, and when our technology can benefit our citizens directly it makes me extremely honoured and proud. Hats off to the Epic Team for a wonderful job done.”
Today, Epic is an award winning technology leader of international repute that ‘bridges humans and technology’ through innovative solutions. With an unprecedented number of national and international accolades won over the past years that includes the highest number of awards won by a single company at the National Best Quality Software Awards for five years, National Business Excellence Gold Award in ICT for three consecutive years, the first Gold Award at APICTA for Sri Lanka in the financial services sector shows technology dominance, product supremacy and entrepreneurial excellence of Epic.