Japan grants Rs. 687mn for postgraduate training of Sri Lanka’s public officials

Japan on yesterday extended a grant of 332 million Japanese Yen (about Rs. 687 million) to support postgraduate education for Sri Lanka’s public officials, deepening a long-running initiative aimed at nurturing executive-level talent in the island nation’s public sector.

The grant, provided under the Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resources Development Scholarship (JDS) Programme, is part of Japan’s Official Development Assistance and is implemented through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The latest tranche is for the ongoing Fourth Framework of the JDS programme, which runs from 2022 to 2025.

Since 2010, the programme has enabled 240 Sri Lankan officials to pursue Master’s Degrees and 16 to undertake PhD programmes in Japan.

An Exchange of Notes and Grant Agreement for the 2025 programme was signed earlier yesterday at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. Representing Sri Lanka was Treasury Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, while the Government of Japan was represented by Ambassador Isomata Akio. Chief Representative Yamada Tetsuya signed on behalf of JICA.

The Finance Ministry said the government expects the JDS scholars to contribute meaningfully to the country’s socio-economic development and play a key role in strengthening bilateral ties with Japan.