Visionary political leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the effective use of technology in a whole – of – government approach has enabled Sri Lanka to control the COVID-19 and a wide range of pandemic related issues – said Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena addressing the Virtual Ministerial Conference on ‘Close the Digital Divides: the Digital Response to COVID-19’.

The Conference jointly organized by Estonia and Singapore on 1 July 2020 was attended by Ministers and representatives from over 60 countries.

Foreign Minister Gunawardena also briefed the Conference on the digital solutions introduced by Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 period, including ‘Contact Sri Lanka Portal’ set-up by the Ministry of Foreign Relations along with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), to respond to the requests from overseas Sri Lankans. He thanked the private sector partners for their contribution during these challenging times.

Observing the increasing role of digital technology in a post- COVID-19 world, Minister Gunawardenacalled for collective action of all nations to address cyber security challenges as well as to share the best practices and technologies with resource constrained countries.

Sri Lanka endorsed the “Global Declaration on the Digital Response to COVID-19”, that was adopted at the Virtual Ministerial Conference.

The Declaration is available at :

https://vm.ee/sites/default/files/Estonia_for_UN/Rasmus/close_the_digital_divides.pdf

Full statement of Minister Gunawardena is attached.

 

Ministry of Foreign Relations

Colombo

 3 July 2020