Presidential Secretary’s address at FutureGov Forum

President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga delivering the keynote address as the Guest of Honour at the FutureGov Forum Sri Lanka 2011 in Colombo recently.

Addressing the gathering, he asserted that it was the President’s leadership that led to the great achievements recorded by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka even under the trying circumstances of wartime.

Recounting what terrorism had taken away from society and paying a tribute to ICTA for its contribution to the better future of the people, the Presidential Secretary said: “The word ‘future’ to many of us had no meaning.  In that environment, there cannot be any creative thinking for e-Government or anything else.  Yet the ICTA under the leadership of President Rajapaksa accomplished many tasks.  Today, we are able to design a future for our e-Government activities”.

In the course of his speech, he touched on wide-ranging issues and subjects such as Sri Lanka’s future of hope, becoming a regional knowledge hub and a smart and unique country, citizen-centric governance, e-Government and e-business, diplomacy and social media, saving time, more e-Gov applications for mobile phones, e-Government policy, health, differently-abled persons, education – the bedrock of electronic society and ICT’s role in education, Chief Innovation Officers and future plans.

The full speech will be reproduced in the Weekend FT tomorrow.