Basil lauds Practical Action for 25 years of service in SL
Saturday, 2 November 2013 00:00
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa said that an immense service has been rendered for the development of Sri Lanka through Practical Action, which has functioned as a European nongovernmental organisation throughout the past 25 years.
The Minister declared that his gratitude is expressed for the service made by the organisation in order to strengthen that economy of Sri Lanka and a precedent was taken from the institution for certain development projects presently being implemented by the government.
The Minister said: “Special thanks must be given to the staff of the European Union including the Ambassador for the provision of the cooperation and for acting in close interaction with the Government.”
Minister Rajapaksa who pointed out that a host of investors had arrived in Sri Lanka from European countries now and declared that Europeans are the majority of the tourists coming to Sri Lanka.
The Minister declared this at ceremony held at Mihilakamedura at the BMICH Colombo for the purpose of establishing a Sri Lankan Institute named ‘Janathakshan’, which aims to celebrate 25 years of Practical Action which functioned as a British non-government organisation in Sri Lanka.
The Minister launched the new Janathakshan Institute logo and awarded a prize to Ofra Shaheel who won the competition conducted for designing the logo.
The Founder of Practical Action was Nobel prize Winner Dr. Shumacher. An organisation called Intermediate Technology was established in 1966 and later it was renamed Intermediate Technology Development Group. This had subsequently been named Practical Action five years later.
The organisation was established in Sri Lanka in 1988 and the regional office of the organisation which had been established in Sri Lanka until recently, has been presently established in Nepal. Presently, the organisation functions in 36 countries including Nepal, Zimbabwe, Bolivia and India.
Development activities construction of small scale power station, construction of biogas units, disaster management, forum on local governance and programs such as consultancy are being implemented through the organisation. By establishing the Janathakshan Institute, programs such as creation of eco friendly technology, environment in Sri Lanka, provision of solutions for elephant human conflict and the min power station are expected to be implemented.
An array of local and foreign guests including Western Province Minister Udaya Gammanpila and European Union Ambassador David Daly participated at the event.
