President Maithripala Sirisena emphasized the necessity of line ministries working jointly in the process of national development to achieve the development aspirations of the people and the country. 

The President further said that it was the responsibility of all the secretaries to the ministries to extend their fullest cooperation to achieve success of relevant projects, without giving its duties only to the responsible ministry, the President’s Media Division reported.

President Sirisena reportedly made this observation upon addressing the ministerial secretaries at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (17).

The President had also highlighted the necessity of maintaining some control over the foreign travels of ministers and the ministry officials of all ranks, stating that some ministers and officials overstay beyond the required time period when they go overseas to attend conferences.

Accordingly, he had urged the ministries’ secretaries to control this situation and implement a programme to train multiple officers, to avoid dispatching the same officer overseas multiple times.

Furthermore, the President, expressing his views on the transfers of the divisional secretaries, had stated that a divisional secretary could not hold his/her position for an excessive period at the same location, and added that a proper policy should be introduced to overcome this.

According to Presidential media sources, President Sirisena had also mentioned that he has signed a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with foreign nations following his overseas visits, and then proceeded to instruct the secretaries to establish a separate division under an additional secretary in order to implement and follow up on said MoUs, and subsequently achieve the expected goals.

Adding on, he had recalled that twelve agreements had been signed during his recent state visit to Bangladesh.

“The Prime Minister of Bangladesh said it was the largest number of agreements signed by the Government of Bangladesh within one day”, President Sirisena said.

President Sirisena had also emphasized he would take actions to hold progress review meetings at all ministries.

He reportedly stated that the performance of those ministries throughout the last two-and-a-half years would be reviewed at said progress review meetings, where attention would also be paid to the goals of 2020.

During the meeting, the President had also vested the secretaries to the ministries with the responsibility of completing the land acquisition in order to build houses for those who lost their homes in the recent floods.

He had then looked into facilities provided to drought-stricken areas to obtain clean drinking water

Furthermore, the President had drawn the attention of audience to their ministry-level responsibilities in providing relief to the people who were adversely affected by the Uma Oya project.

During the discussion, attention had also been paid towards filling of vacancies at ministries.

The President had pointed out the need for a publicity program to educate people on the development activities carried out at ministry-level. He had reportedly directed the deployment of press officers from all ministries to work in connection with the Government Information Department in this regard.

President Sirisena had added on by stating that the Government’s course of action initiated on behalf of the country and its people must be communicated to the people in order to improve their awareness.

Secretaries to the ministries should meet once every three months to discuss this matter, the President said.

Secretary to the President, Austin Fernando also attended the discussion, according to the President’s Media Division.