President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that an environment will be created for small and medium-scale industrialists to become successful using modern technology and the government is ready to empower the industrialists as the main stakeholders in earning foreign exchange for Sri Lanka.

President Wickremesinghe made these remarks at the 21st ‘Achiever Awards 2022’ which was organized by the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, held at Hotel Galadari, Colombo, yesterday (20).

The President pointed out that instead of looking at the fallen economy and regretting it, everyone should work together to create an environment that can enable us to have a prosperous future. He also said that Japan and Germany, which were destroyed by the World War, provide us with an example of how to rebuild the country and the economy.

President Wickremesinghe also added that the industrialists have a great responsibility in rebuilding the fallen economy of Sri Lanka. Industrialists are a group of people who contributed immensely to the country’s economy.

“We have no option but to increase the taxes, but I am confident that we can pull through and we will pull through. We have gone through this earlier. You ran through wars. We have gone through the worst of what has happened this year. We have to pull through and that is where we have to look at all of you. Because we have to preserve what is left. We still have issues. Nevertheless, the government’s aim is to revive and help as many businesses as possible. Many businesses as possible must survive,” the President added.

The government focuses on Small and Medium enterprises with economic difficulties, as without the Small and Medium enterprises no one can survive. The government is going through a whole series of exercises in correcting the economy and uplifting small and medium-scale enterprises. Modern technology can be used for that. We should look at the development of small and medium-scale industries in other countries of the world and use the modern technology they have used it for the development of these industries. We are ready to provide all the support we can provide as a government for that.

The President asked the industrialists whether they would like to strengthen the economy with new innovations to win the international market or to remain with the same old methods. He further said that with new technology and new innovations, the industrialists have a good chance of becoming economically stronger to conquer the world. For that, we need to make a change in attitude, he said.

At present the country needs foreign exchange, with increasing foreign exchange, the economy will be strengthened. This enables the government to provide solutions to allocate more financial assistance to the education and health sectors and to solve the problems that have arisen in the field of education and health.

The President presented awards to the top 10 achievers.

The Vice Chancellor of the Jayawardenepura University, Prof. Sudanta Liyanage, Secretary to the Ministry of Industries Thilaka Jayasundara, CNCI Chairman Canisius Fernando and several others participated in this event