With the objective of further strengthening the cooperation between Sri Lanka and Japan in the fields of digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI), a special discussion was held today (14) at the Ministry of Digital Economy between Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, and a delegation led by Mr. Hara Shohei, Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The meeting was also attended by Mr. Waruna Sri Dhanapala, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Senior Advisor to the President on Digital Economy and Chairman of GovTech, as well as Mr. Shigeki Honzu, Chief Representative of JICA Sri Lanka.

During the meeting, bilateral cooperation across two priority areas was discussed at length. In particular, the Deputy Minister highlighted the need to accelerate the work on the Digital Television Project and resolve its practical implementation issues. Furthermore, with the aim of boosting domestic industry and reducing reliance on imports, special attention was given to the feasibility of locally manufacturing Set-Top Boxes required to receive digital signals.

In addition, the two sides discussed the establishment of a National AI Data Centre for the development of Sri Lanka’s future AI infrastructure. Parallel to this, attention was focused on capacity-building programs, training, developing AI solutions tailored to Sri Lanka, and exchanging international technical knowledge and best practices.

The technical assistance provided by JICA to Sri Lanka was appreciated by the Ministry of Digital Economy, and the Deputy Minister emphasized that work will be carried out to successfully advance these projects while further strengthening the friendship between Sri Lanka and Japan.