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| Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
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Small industries to the fore by Elmo Leonard A prime objective of this government is to uplift the rural masses comprising 70 per cent of the population of this country, most of whom live in poverty, Deputy Minister of Small and Rural Industries, Sunil Handunneththi said last week. One way in which the government would achieve this is by improving rural industry while assisting self-employment ventures of rural folk. The Deputy Minister made his observations at the third annual convention of the Start and Improve Your Business Sri Lanka Association (SIYB). A new business training package - Know About Business (KAB) - was launched on the occasion with International Labour Organisation (ILO) participation. Minister Handunneththi had had talks with Director of ILO in Sri Lanka Claudia Coenjaerts on the role the government would play in this manoeuvre. Hitherto, rural uplift programmes were determined in Colombo. Now, such schemes would be devised in the villages, the exact locations where industrialisation would take place. Hitherto, small industries were meant to trail, or play second fiddle to large industries; this situation would change. Small industries would be dynamic and objective, the Minister said. The Minister regretted that hitherto, aspiring rural entrepreneurs had no concept of what business they would engage in, how much money was needed, from where they could obtain the technology and the knowledge of the markets they could sell their products to. With the ongoing SIYB and KAB programmes, the aspiring entrepreneur would no longer face such difficulties, he said. In November, the government would hold an industrial exhibition of small industries including small textile industries. Also in the pipeline is an exhibition which will be held in Colombo of products made in the rural sector, the Minister said. |
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