The Sri Lankan industry sector has called for an enhanced role of the UN in its development while the UN praised Sri Lanka’s commitment to sustainable and inclusive industrialization in line with Target 9.2 of the global Sustainable Development Framework. “It’s great that the Ministry of Industry is committed to the Sustainable Development Framework” said UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Una McCauley at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. She was making a courtesy call on the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 17th August.

“We thank UN for its ongoing support to our industry development. Specially, UNIDO’s interest in ushering inclusive and sustainable industrialization framework to Sri Lanka shall be a great opening for our industries” said Minister Bathiudeen, and added: “It is time that Sri Lanka starts integrating with the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) closely. We call for enhanced support from UN for sustainable industry development, industrial waste management, green industries, and SME development. We have finalised our National SME Policy and is now preparing to submit to Parliament and we thank the ILO in Colombo for the support given to finalise it. As the Resident Coordinator, we also call for your support and intervention to link UNIDO with Ministry’s efforts more closely. The industry reform vision of our Unity Government aims at taking our industries to the next level such as robotics and high value addition manufacturing, where UNIDO could help us greatly.”

Resident Coordinator Ms McCauley in response praised Minister Bathiudeen for his interest in Target 9.2 Framework. “SDG 9.2- it’s great that the Ministry of Industry is focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals, especially at a time when the UN is trying to directly partner with the Government and Ministries in their projects. If the Ministry can identify the areas you would like technical support on, we as the UN can support in sourcing the necessary expertise. We believe that Sri Lanka can utilize success stories from other countries in its industrialization efforts.”  It is believed that SDG 9 shall also be utilised in major industrial reforms proposed by the Unity Government of Sri Lanka.