Sri Lanka marked a significant milestone in disaster preparedness with the launch of the “GeoAI for Disaster Resilience” national initiative in Colombo, led by the Association of Disaster Risk Management Professionals (ADRMP).

The event brought together over 80 participants representing the Disaster Management Centre, National Disaster Relief Services Centre, Department of Meteorology, NBRO, Irrigation Department, Ministry of Health, Tri-Forces, Sri Lanka Police, telecommunications partners, private-sector innovators, academia, community-based organizations, and the media, with the participation of Ms. Jayne A. Howell, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, Mr. Waruna Sri Dhanapala, Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Digital Economy, and Prof. Indika Mahesh Karunathilaka, Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, highlighting a strong, cross-sector commitment to building a safer and more resilient Sri Lanka through GeoAI and innovation.

President’s Export Awards Presented Honouring Sri Lankan Exporters Who Made an Outstanding Contribution to the Export Sector

The 27th Presidential Export Awards ceremony, organized by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) operating under the Ministry of Industries and Industrial Development, was recently held t at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall under the patronage of the Hon. Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

This prestigious national award ceremony is dedicated to recognizing Sri Lankan exporters who have made exceptional contributions to the export sector and the country’s economic advancement. The objective of presenting the Presidential Export Awards is to honour those who have rendered an outstanding service towards Sri Lanka’s economic development.

The Presidential Export Awards were first introduced by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board in 1981, and up to now, 26 award ceremonies have been successfully held. At this year’s ceremony, recognising the best exporters of Sri Lanka for 2024/2025, a total of 107 awards were presented, including 15 overall awards and 92 product and service sector awards. Additionally, based on the performance of applicants and the contribution made to the national economy in their respective sectors, Merit Awards were also presented as determined by the panel of judges.

In selecting sectoral award winners, not only export revenue but also indicators such as export market diversification, job creation, export revenue growth, repatriation of export earnings, environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and value addition were taken into consideration. This year, the “Exporter of the Year” award was won by Omega Line Ltd.

This ceremony, held under the guidance of the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development, Hon. Sunil Handunnetti, and the Deputy Minister, Hon. Chathuranga Abeysinghe, was attended by Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Hon. (Dr.) Anil Jayanta; Minister of Power, Hon. Kumar Jayakody; Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Hon. Sunil Kumara Gamage; Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Marine Resources, Hon. Ramalingam Chandrasekaran; Hon. Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, Eng. Eranga Weeraratne; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment, Hon. Arun Hemachandra; Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe; Ministry Secretary Thilaka Jayasundara; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the EDB, Mangala Wijesinghe; senior government officials, state officers, exporters, and approximately 1,500 invited guests.

The UCSC Alumni Association successfully hosted the Post-Budget Digital Economy Forum 2026, bringing together leaders from government, industry, and academia to reflect on Sri Lanka’s fast, advancing digital transformation journey. Despite the challenging weather, the strong participation and enthusiasm in the room underscored one truth: Sri Lankans are ready to move forward with purpose, collaboration, and innovation.

The Ministry of Digital Economy appreciates the meaningful contributions made throughout the forum, including XAPI's support as the Digital Governance Sponsor, which enabled deeper conversations on AI, Data, and API governance, PDPA readiness, and the future of secure digital public infrastructure. The insights shared by Hon, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, Eranga Weeraratne; Acting Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy, Waruna Sri Dhanapala; industry leader Imal Kalutotage, and moderator Anudi Nanayakkara enriched the dialogue. They set a strong foundation for the country’s next steps in digital advancement.

Events like this strengthen the vital bridge between policy, industry, and innovation, driving Sri Lanka’s digital economy to new heights.

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The Road Development Authority, in collaboration with Google and under the guidance of the Ministry of Digital Economy, is currently updating Sri Lanka’s A and B grade road network on Google Maps. With Google granting the Road Development Authority official GMCP (Google Map Content Partner) status, these updates are now being carried out efficiently and accurately.

As the second phase of this initiative, updates to the remaining road networks across the country will also commence soon.

Participating in the conference held today at the University of Vocational Technology under the theme “National Consultation on Proper Regulation of Digital Platforms,” Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, Hon. Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, called for a regional policy to hold digital platforms accountable at a workshop on digital platform governance in Sri Lanka. The event, organized by Tribhuvan University (Nepal), Jahangirnagar University (Bangladesh), and UoVT (Sri Lanka) with UNESCO, aimed to address Internet safety and rights-based governance.

Dr. Kundan Aryal of Tribhuvan University highlighted the importance of promoting freedom of expression while combating disinformation. UNESCO’s Ms. Nirjana Sharma explained the rationale behind the UNESCO guidelines for digital platform governance.

The event featured a full-day discussion with multistakeholder participation.

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Now you can turn your profile picture into a message of hope and help rebuild lives after cyclone Ditwa.

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The Central Hub for All Verified Donations. Both local and international donors can now access the 'Bank details for manual donations' section to view all official bank deposit details. Your contribution directly strengthens national recovery operations www.donate.gov.lk

You Can Now Donate Equipment or Relief Items Contribute through the ‘Donate Equipment/Items’ section and support disaster-affected communities in need. All donations are exempt from duties and taxes under the government’s emergency relief process. Sri Lanka Needs Us. Now. www.donate.gov.lk

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NASSCOM නායකත්වය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීම සම්බන්ධයෙන්, ගරු, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය හරිනි අමරසූරිය, බස්නාහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර, බස්නාහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර හනීෆ් යූසුෆ් මහතා, ගරු ඩිජිටල් ආර්ථික නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය එරංග වීරරත්න, ඩිජිටල් ආර්ථිකය පිළිබද ජනාධිපති ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨ උපදේශක ආචාර්‍ය හාන්ස් විජයසූරිය , ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති, අර්ජුන හේරත්, SLASSCOM නියෝජිතයින් ඇතුළු පිරිස අතර තාක්‍ෂණ, නව්‍යකරණ සහ ඩිජිටල් ආර්ථිකය පිළිබඳ හමුවක් පැවැත්වීය.

මෙම සංවාදයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා–ඉන්දියා තාක්‍ෂණික හවුල්කාරීත්වය ශක්තිමත් කිරීම, නව්‍යකරණ හා හැකියා සංවර්ධනය, ආයෝජන අවස්ථා සොයා බැලීම, සහ ICT අංශයේ වර්ධන වේගවත් කිරීමට යෝජිත ප්‍රතිපත්ති පිළිබඳ සාකච්ඡා කළේය.

මෙම හමුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සහ ඉන්දියාව අතර තාක්‍ෂණික බැඳීම් තවදුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කළ අතර, නව අවස්ථා හඳුනා ගනිමින් SLASSCOM–NASSCOM සහෝයෝගීත්වය වැඩිදියුණු කිරීමට නව මාර්ග විවෘත කරන්නක් විය.

தொழில்நுட்பம் புதுமை மற்றும் டிஜிட்டல் பொருளாதாரத்தில் ஒத்துழைப்பு குறித்து விவாதிக்க, வருகை தந்த நாஸ்காம் (NASSCOM) தலைவர் ஹோ. பிரதம மந்திரி ஹரிணி அமரசூரிய் மேற்கு மாகாண ஆளுநர் ஹனிஃப் யூசூப்; டிஜிட்டல் பொருளாதார பிரதியமைச்சர் கௌரவ் எரங்க வீரரத்ன் டிஜிட்டல் பொருளாதாரத்திற்கான இலங்கை ஜனாதிபதியின் தலைமை ஆலோசகர் டாக்டர் ஹான்ஸ் விஜயசூரிய மற்றும் SLASSCOM பிரதிநிதிகளுடன் ஒரு மூலோபாய சந்திப்பு நடைபெற்றது.

இலங்கை-இந்தியா தொழில்நுட்ப கூட்டாண்மைகளை வலுப்படுத்துதல், புதுமை மற்றும் திறமை மேம்பாட்டை வளர்ப்பது> முதலீட்டு வாய்ப்புகளை ஆராய்வது மற்றும் தகவல் தொடர்பாடல் தொழிநுட்ப துறையில் வளர்ச்சியை விரைவுபடுத்துவதற்கான கொள்கைகளை முன்னெடுப்பது குறித்து கலந்துரையாடல் நடைபெற்றன.

இந்த சந்திப்பு தொழில்நுட்பத்தில் இருதரப்பு உறவுகளை வலுப்படுத்தியது, கூட்டு முயற்சிகளுக்கான வாய்ப்புகளை அடையாளம் கண்டது மற்றும் நாஸ்காம் (NASSCOM); உடன் SLASSCOM இன் கூட்டாண்மையை வலுப்படுத்த வழி வகுத்தது.

A strategic meeting was held with visiting NASSCOM leadership, Ho. Prime Minister, Harini Amarasuriya; The Governor of the Western Province, Hanif Yusoof; Hon. Deputy Minister for Digital Economy, Eranga Weeraratne; Chief Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on Digital Economy, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Arjuna Herath, Chairman of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka; and SLASSCOM representatives, to discuss collaboration in technology, innovation, and the digital economy.

Discussions centered on strengthening Sri Lanka–India tech partnerships, fostering innovation and talent development, exploring investment opportunities, and advancing policies to accelerate growth in the ICT sector.

The meeting reinforced bilateral ties in technology, identified opportunities for joint initiatives, and paved the way for strengthening SLASSCOM’s partnership with NASSCOM.

විපතට පත් ජනතාවට සහන සැලසීමට HUTCH සමාගමෙන් රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 600ක මූල්‍යමය පරිත්‍යාගයක්.

දිට්වා සුළි කුණාටුවෙන් විපතට පත් ජනතාවට සහන සැලසීමේ රජයේ ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ අරමුදලට දෛනිකව ආධාර ලැබෙමින් පවතින අතර, ඒ අනුව අද (04) දිනයේදී HUTCH සමාගම විසින් රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 600ක මූල්‍යමය පරිත්‍යාගයක් සිදු කරනු ලැබීය.

ව්‍යාපෘති අධ්‍යක්ෂ - හචිසන් ආසියා ටෙලිකොම් හොංකොං/හච්හි අධ්‍යක්ෂ ඈන් චෙන් සහ හච්හි ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරි සෞමිත්‍ර ගුප්තා යන මහත්ම මහත්මීන් විසින් ඊට අදාළ චෙක්පත අද (04) පෙරවරුවේ ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේදී ජනාධිපති ලේකම් ආචාර්ය නන්දික සනත් කුමානායක මහතා වෙත පිළිගන්වනු ලැබීය.

අනතුරුව හච් සමාගමේ නිලධාරීන් සමඟ සුහද කතාබහකට එක්වූ ජනාධිපති ලේකම්වරයා විපතට පත් ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් ලබා දුන් දායකත්වය සම්බන්ධව සිය ස්තුතිය පුද කර සිටියේය.

මීට අමතරව දිට්වා සුළි කුණාටුව හේතුවෙන් විපතට පත් ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් නොමිලේ ඇමතුම්, දත්ත සහ කෙටි පණිවුඩ ලබා දීම, ජංගම ආරෝපණ කුටි යෙදවීම සහ සන්නිවේදන කුළුණු කඩිනමින් අලුත්වැඩියා කිරීම සඳහා ගුවන් යානා ඉංජිනේරුවන් යෙදවීමටද HUTCH සමාගම කටයුතු යොදා ඇත.

ඩිජිටල් ආර්ථික නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු එරංග වීරරත්න, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදුලි සංදේශ නියාමන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ (TRCSL)සභාපති වරුණ ශ්‍රී ධනපාල, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදුලි සංදේශ නියාමන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් එයාර් වයිස් මාර්ෂල් (විශ්‍රාමික) බන්දුල හේරත්, හච්හි (වැඩබලන ප්‍රධාන මූල්‍ය නිලධාරි) ශකිල විජේසිංහ, හච්හි අලෙවි සන්නිවේදන කළමනාකරු දිලානි ෆොන්සේකා, හච්හි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ අලෙවි නිලධාරී තිසර නිපුන් යන මහත්ම මහත්මීහු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு நிவாரணம் வழங்க HUTCH நிறுவனம் 600 இலட்சம் ரூபா நிதி நன்கொடை

டித்வா சூறாவளியால் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு நிவாரணம் வழங்கும் அரசாங்கத்தின் ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ நிதியத்திற்கு அன்றாடம் நன்கொடைகள் கிடைத்துக்கொண்டிருப்பதுடன், அதன்படி, இன்று (04) HUTCH நிறுவனம் 600 இலட்சம் ரூபா நிதி நன்கொடையை வழங்கியது.

ஹச்ஸன் ஆசியா டெலிகொம் ஹொங்கொங் நிறுவனத்தின் திட்டப் பணிப்பாளர் மற்றும் ஹட்ச் நிறுவனத்தின் பணிப்பாளர் ஏன் சென் மற்றும் ஹட்ச் நிறுவனத்தின் இலங்கைப் பிரதான நிறைவேற்று அதிகாரி சௌமித்ர குப்தா ஆகியோர் இதற்கான காசோலையை இன்று (04) முற்பகல் ஜனாதிபதி அலுவலகத்தில் ஜனாதிபதியின் செயலாளர் கலாநிதி நந்திக சனத் குமாநாயக்கவிடம் வழங்கி வைத்தனர்.

பின்னர், ஹட்ச் நிறுவன அதிகாரிகளுடன் உரையாடலில் ஈடுபட்ட ஜனாதிபதியின் செயலாளர், பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு வழங்கிய பங்களிப்புக்கு நன்றி தெரிவித்தார்.

மேலும், டித்வா சூறாவளியால் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு இலவச அழைப்புகள், டேட்டா மற்றும் குறுஞ்செய்தி வழங்குதல், நடமாடும் சார்ஜிங் நிலையங்களை நிறுவவும், தகவல் தொடர்பு கோபுரங்களை அவசரமாக சீர்செய்யவும் விமானப் பொறியியலாளர்களை பணியமர்த்தியவும் HUTCH நிறுவனம் நடவடிக்கை எடுத்துள்ளமை குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

டிஜிட்டல் பொருளாதார பிரதி அமைச்சர் பொறியியலாளர் எரங்க வீரரத்ன, இலங்கை தொலைத்தொடர்புகள் ஒழுங்குபடுத்தும் ஆணைக்குழுவின் (TRCSL) தலைவர் வருண ஸ்ரீ தனபால, இலங்கை தொலைத்தொடர்புகள் ஒழுங்குபடுத்தும் ஆணைக்குழுவின் பணிப்பாளர் நாயகம் எயார் வைஸ் மார்ஷல் (ஓய்வு) பந்துல ஹேரத், ஹட்ச் (பதில் பிரதான நிதி அதிகாரி) ஷகில விஜேசிங்க, ஹட்ச் சந்தைப்படுத்தல் தொடர்பு முகாமையாளர் திலானி பொன்சேகா, ஹட்ச் இன் சிரேஷ்ட சந்தைப்படுத்தல் அதிகாரி திசர நிபுன் உள்ளிட்ட பலர் இந்நிகழ்வில் கலந்து கொண்டனர்.

HUTCH Contributes Rs. 60 Million to Support Cyclone-Affected Communities

As part of ongoing relief efforts for communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, HUTCH Sri Lanka has donated Rs. 60 million to the Government’s ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund. The contribution was officially handed over today (04) at the Presidential Secretariat.

The donation cheque was presented to Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake by HUTCH officials, including Project worker of Hutch company Hong Kong and Worker of Hutch company Yen Sen and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hutch Sri Lanka Saumitra Gupta.

Following the handover, the Secretary to the President engaged in cordial discussions with the HUTCH delegation, expressing gratitude for their support to the disaster-affected population.

In addition to the financial contribution, HUTCH has actively provided free calls, data and SMS services to those impacted by the cyclone. The company has also deployed mobile charging units and aviation engineers to promptly restore damaged communication towers, ensuring vital connectivity for affected communities.

The handover ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) Waruna Sri Dhanapala, Director General of TRCSL Air Vice Marshal Bandula Herath (Retd.), HUTCH Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shakila Wijesinghe, HUTCH Marketing Communications Manager Dilani Fonseka, and HUTCH Senior Executive (Marketing) Thisara Nipun.

ජල ගැලීම් වලින් පීඩාවට පත් ප්‍රජාවන්ට සහාය වීමට SLT-MOBITEL වෙතින් නොමිලේ ‘247 උපකාරක සේවාවක්'!

දිට්වා සුළි කුණාටුවෙන් පසු ආපදාවට පත් ප්‍රජාවන්ට සහන සැලසීම සඳහා, SLT-MOBITEL විසින් කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ද සමඟ සහයෝගීතාවයෙන් යුතුව නොමිලේ ‘247 උපකාරක සේවාව‍ේ හඳුන්වා දී තිබේ. මෙම හදිසි උපකාරක සේවාව පැය 24 පුරාම වෛද්‍ය උපදෙස් සහ හදිසි උපකාරක සහාය ලබා දීම සඳහා ස්ථාපනය වී තිබේ. පවතින අභියෝගාත්මක කාල පරිච්ඡේදය තුළ, සතියේ දින හතේ පැය 24 තුළම සක්‍රියව සේවයට කැපවූ වෛද්‍ය වෘත්තිකයින් කණ්ඩායමක් සමග සහය ඇවැසි ඇමතුම් ලබාදෙන්නන්ව වෛද්‍ය උපදෙස් සඳහා සම්බන්ධ කිරීම මෙම සේවාව මගින් සිදුවනු ඇත.

ජල ගැලීම් හේතුවෙන් සිදුවී ඇති තුවාල, උණ රෝගී තත්වයන්, ජලයෙන් බෝවන රෝග, හුස්ම ගැනීමේ අපහසුතා හෝ ජල ගැලීම් හේතුවෙන් පැන නගින වෙනත් ඕනෑම සෞඛ්‍ය ගැටළුවක් නිසා පීඩාවට පත්ව සිටින ඕනෑම අයෙකුට ක්ෂණිකව අවශ්‍ය වෛද්‍ය උපදෙස්, 247 අංකය අමතා ලබා ගැනීමේ හැකියාව මෙම සේවාව ඔස්සේ ලැබෙනු ඇත. ආපදාවට ලක්වූ සියලු දෙනා හටම ප්‍රවේශය ලබාගැනීමට හැකියාව සලසමින්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සියලුම දුරකථන ඇමතුම් ජාල හරහා මෙම සේවාව වෙත ප්‍රවිෂ්ඨ වීමට හැකියාව ඇත.

ජාතික තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ විසඳුම් සම්පාදක ලෙස SLT-MOBITEL, මෙම අභියෝගාත්මක කාලය තුළදීත් ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින්ට සහාය ලබාදීමට නිරන්තරයෙන්ම කැපවීමෙන් කටයුතු කරයි. විශේෂයෙන් සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුම ආරක්ෂිතව සිටින බවත්, ඔවුන්ට සිය ආදරණීයයන් සමඟ මෙන්ම හදිසි සේවාවන් සමඟද සම්බන්ධතාවය පවත්වා ගැනීමට හැකියාව තිබෙන බවත් සහතික කර ගැනීම සඳහා SLT-MOBITEL ඇප කැප වී සිටී. ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය ජනතාවගේ විශ්වාසී හවුල්කරුවෙකු ලෙස සෑම විටම ඔවුන් සමඟ එක්ව සිටගන්නා SLT-MOBITEL, මෙම සුළි කුණාටුවේ විනාශකාරී බලපෑමෙන් නැවත නැගී සිටීම සඳහා ජාතිය එක්ව කටයුතු කරන අතරතුර, අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සන්නිවේදන සහාය සහ වෛද්‍ය සහාය ලබා දීම සඳහා ප්‍රමුඛත්වය ලබා දී සිටී.

මෙම අභියෝගාත්මක කාලය තුළ අවධානයෙන් පසුවන ලෙසටත්, ප්‍රජාවක් ලෙස එකට එක්ව සිටින ලෙසටත්, එකිනෙකා ගැන සොයා බලමින්, ආරක්ෂිතව සහ සාමූහිකව සිටින ලෙසටත් SLT-MOBITEL විසින් සියලුම ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී.

SLT-MOBITEL introduces free '247 Medical Assistance Service' to support communities affected by floods.

In response to the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, SLT-MOBITEL, in collaboration with the University of Colombo, launched a free '247 Medical Assistance Service' to provide relief to communities impacted by the disaster.

This emergency assistance service has been set up to offer medical advice and emergency support around the clock.

During this challenging period, a team of dedicated medical professionals will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to connect those in need with medical advice through emergency calls.

This service is designed to assist anyone experiencing health issues due to flood-related injuries, fever conditions, waterborne diseases, breathing difficulties, or any other health problems caused by the floods. By dialing 247, citizens can immediately receive the medical guidance they need. The service is accessible to all individuals in Sri Lanka, and it is available through all telephone networks in the country.

As the national provider of telecommunications services, SLT-MOBITEL remains committed to supporting the people of Sri Lanka, especially during such challenging times.