IASL urges govt. to facilitate long-awaited industrial, labour reforms

Wants SME developments to be included in national policy

By Chandeepa Wettasinghe
The Industrial Association of Sri Lanka (IASL) called on the government to facilitate long due reforms to the industrial sector and the labour market.
“The IASL yet holds the view that a framework for the development of an industrial policy is long overdue,” IASL Chairman Nilam Jayasinghe said at the apex body’s AGM last Friday.
He noted that even though a guideline was developed by IASL in the recent years with the assistance of the Institute of Policy Studies and the World Bank, the government had not responded properly.
“This was made available to the relevant line ministry and key government officials. Unfortunately, this was not even acknowledged,” he added.
Jayasinghe said that development of small and medium enterprises and improvements in key industrial sectors must be included in the national policy, while industries engaged in import substitution must also be looked into.
“The industry policy framework (should) set out a process by which an integrated approach is used to map the role of each stakeholder in meeting future industry goals,” he added.
He also expressed that innovation, research and development with the help of advanced technologies such as automation and robotics are essential in making the industry sustainable in the long-term.
“While the prevailing interest rates are yet conducive to borrow and invest in such initiatives, industries should be encouraged to do so to maintain its long-term competitiveness,” he said.
Jayasinghe welcomed the government’s proposals to set up economic development as well as industrial technology development zones in rural areas.
Senior economist Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy who was the Chief Guest at the AGM said that the government must create an investor-friendly environment for foreign direct investments (FDIs) and domestic investments if the zones are to become a reality.
“They can build the economic zones with FDIs. The government doesn’t have funds, but the local companies are fairly liquid. But they haven’t been investing due to a lack of confidence,” he said.