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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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Korean expertise to develop ICT The government is giving maximum support for the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector to increase its accessibility to the people,The Minister of Science and Technology Tissa Witharana said. "We are especially supporting the private sector to develop the ICT sector, since it is the best driving force at present", Minister Witharana said at the opening ceremony of the 2nd International Conference on Internet Resource Management two- day seminar, which was named as the "e-Connect 2004" held in Colombo from 13 to 14 of October. He said that 90 per cent of the population has no access for ICT and only less than 10 per cent enjoy this facility in the country. "The high degree of rural poverty in the country is the main factor for it" Minister Witharana said. ICT could play a significant role in economic development in the country to enhance the living conditions of majority of rural population, who mostly lives below the poverty line , Prof Witharana noted . Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka Lim Jae-Hong, said that Korea is willing to share its acquired and relevant knowledge, skill , expertise, infrastructure and technical know-how in the area of ICT, with Sri Lanka. "Korea now, as an advanced developing country, is willing to share its development experience with developing countries including Sri Lanka, especially in the field of ICT, " Jae-Hong said addressing the opening ceremony. He said that it has granted a soft loan of US $ 15 million to up grade the information and communication infrastructure in Sri Lanka, taking into consideration that Sri Lanka is making great efforts to reach a knowledge- based environment to transform itself for this new technological era. He said that National Internet Development Agency (NIDA) of Korea has well chosen Sri Lanka and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) as its second partner for sharing information and communication technology since Sri Lankan government has fully recognised the importance of ICT in the 21st century. NIDA President Dr Kwaaho Song said that, e-Connect 2004 seminar will help to develop ICT skills, which is the need of the hour in this rapid changing technology. The seminar was hosted jointly by Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) of Korea and ICTA. |
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