Web
portal for national employment
The Island - Wednesday February 27, 2002
The Ministry of Employment and Labour launched a web portal this
evening at a ceremony presided by minister Mahinda Samarasinghe
and attended by a cross section of diplomats, government officials
and leaders of the private sector and the trade union movement.
www.slnep.org is a portal for capturing ideas, views and opinions
from the public for the purpose of creating a consensus based national
employment policy (NEP) for Sri Lanka.
The ministry has recognized the need to capture a wide range of
views on the contents of the policy, as the policy will be directly
relevant to the country’s citizenry. In order to do so the
ministry has taken a bold step towards the establishment of this
web portal, through which the public can send in their suggestion
and comments on a range of topics. The web portal is a major initiative
in terms of transparency and people participation in the preparation
of a national policy, and is a clear indication of democracy in
practice. The site is in all three languages thereby ensuring that
people from all communities and at all levels can share their opinions.
Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe speaking on the occasion urged the
audience to give the country the benefit of their thoughts and ideas
by logging onto the web portal. The minister added that this might
probably be the first time that such a step has been taken to collect
views from the public though a web portal for formulation of a national
policy. “We put together a tri-partite advisory committee
devoid of any political affiliations for the formulation of the
NEP. The Committee comprises of representation of trade unions from
various political parties, a cross section of employers, academics
and young people." Asite Talwatte, senior partner Ernst and
Young said that “by obtaining a larger number of viewpoints
it will be possible to develop a comprehensive employment policy
that meets the needs of both employers and employees.” The
minister thanked the Norwegian Government for sponsoring all the
costs related to the formulation of the NEP.
Charitha Ratwatte - Secretary to the Treasury speaking on the occasion
said that “We cannot underestimate the popularity of the Internet
in Sri Lanka and this initiative will prove to be a definite winner.
Efforts such as this will play an important role in the exponential
growth of this medium". Ratwatte added that information and
communication technology was the last chance for Sri Lanka and that
the treasury was committed to providing incentives to entrepreneurs
who have ideas to narrow the digital divide.
John Westborg - Norwegian ambassador speaking on the occasion congratulated
the ministry on its initiative. He said that politicians and governments
cannot provide employment and can only facilitate this process.
“The need of the hour is to provide gainful employment”,
he added.
The Sri Lanka government is actively pursuing rapid economic growth
and in this context it is essential that the country’s employment
policy be aligned to its development goals. The policy will reflect
modern thinking in order to maintain Sri Lanka’s competitiveness
in the global economy. The ministry has actively sought out the
opinions and participation of a cross section of the public for
the development of this policy, and members of the private sector
are also represented on the policy formulation committee. In addition
and Young - Sri Lanka, were commissioned to coordinate an initial
study to obtain a cross section of employer and employee views to
aid in the development of the NEP.
Mr. Bradmon Weerakoon, Secretary to the Prime Minister also graced
the occasion. The website was developed by Affno, a leading software
engineering company, which focuses on building e-business solutions.
