Sri Lanka seeks India’s help with policy reforms, governance, public service delivery

The Indian delegation led by the director general of the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Bharat Lal met Wickremesinghe on Saturday in the island country and discussed topics like policy reforms, good governance, digitalization, capacity building and training, institution building, and assured public service delivery.

During the meeting, president Wickremesinghe shared his vision for Sri Lanka, a strategy to address the recent economic challenges and put the country on the path of high economic growth.

The discussion centered around policy reforms, good governance, digitalization, capacity building and training, institution building, and assured public service delivery. He admired the way India has managed socio-economic development and has ensured high economic growth.

During the discussion, the Sri Lankan president urged NCGG to help establish a university of governance and public policy in the country.

During the discussion, Wickremesinghe requested that the NCGG extend the necessary help to Sri Lanka based on India’s experience of digital governance and participatory policymaking to ensure faster socio-economic development and high economic growth.

The Indian delegation met several senior civil servants of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is keen to learn policy–driven governance model of India and the massive use of digital technology in the planning, execution, and monitoring of various programmes and projects.

“During a series of meetings set up by the President’s office, top civil servants expressed their appreciation for the sustained assistance that India has provided to Sri Lanka during its recent unprecedented economic crisis. DG spoke about the Prime Minister’s (Narendra Modi) mantra of ‘neighbourhood first’ and highlighted the special relationship India-Sri Lanka have,” the statement added.

The NCGG, which was set up by the Indian government in 2014 as an autonomous institution to focus on good governance, policy reforms, training, and capacity building of civil servants of India and other developing countries, has taken up capacity building of civil servants of several developing countries in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs.