The UN Resident Coordinator to China, Siddharth Chatterjee, has met with Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Dr. Palitha Kohona to discuss ways and means of enhancing UN collaboration with Sri Lanka as we strive to realize the SDGs despite the COVID-19 pandemic and financial crises.

The Sri Lankan ambassador focused on the post-COVID recovery plan of Sri Lanka and emphasized the need to work closely with the UN to benefit from the vast knowhow it possesses in the areas such as agriculture, renewable energy, social infrastructure, education, SMEs, tourism, and disaster management, etc.

Referring to the Colombo Declaration on Youth, he highlighted the need to make youth concerns part of the decision-making process. He emphasized the need for enhancing marketable youth skills.

The UN Resident Coordinator replied that Sri Lanka as a country where the Literacy Rate stands at more than 92%, needs to pay more attention to technical and vocational education to make youth better prepared to face the challenges of the fast-digitalizing future world.

The ambassador suggested bringing the UN and Sri Lanka closer to enhance collaboration and thus bringing more tangible benefits to the peoples of Sri Lanka in the post pandemic era.

He said that in the pre pandemic era, tourism contributed 12-15% to Sri Lanka’s GDP. He emphasized the importance of reviving tourism as tourism related returns are immediate and its contribution in generating foreign exchange.

In this regard, Chatterjee proposed to convene a discussion in his office, including, the embassy, UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer, the heads of other UN Agencies, CIDCA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism of Sri Lanka, Chinese tour operators, and other public and private stakeholders.

The ambassador endorsed the suggestion to make a strategic plan through this collaborative process to revive Sri Lanka Tourism, especially through wider promotion, investments in infrastructure development and training.

The Head of the Office of the Resident Joe Colombano, Brigadier Sylvester Perera, Second Secretary Sanju Dasanayake were also present at the meeting on 26 October 2022.