Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe urged investors and the entrepreneurs in the Information Technology sector to come up with novel plans to face the global market challenges.
The Prime Minister was addressing the 25th year anniversary of Infortel 2017, held under the theme ‘25 years and beyond-towards a digital economy’. The event was organised by the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS). Prime Minister Wickremesinghe further said the Government provides all facilities to IT personnel entering the Global market.
The Premier said that the IT sector will be provided with a new tax concession based on the salaries but not the capital accounts. It is hoped that these tax concessions and measures would help the IT sector generate an income target of Rs.10 billion.
“You are given a new tax concession to build IT parks and other infrastructure which provide training facilities,”the Premier said.
The Prime Minister said that financial assistance will be granted to those who need additional funds as an incentive to train employees.
The PM said that there is huge potential for growth in the IT industry, which would give us an advantage when competing in the global arena.
“Therefore, IT personnel should reap the benefits by attracting more foreign income for the country,”the Premier said.
“Are you interested in capturing the international Information Technology market”, the Prime Minister asked the personnel in the IT sector.
He said the Government has appointed a Task Force to help boost the IT industry.Under the initiative, free Wifi facilities have been provided, over 200,000 tablets distributed among students together with a number of other benefits. This initiative would help upgrade the workforce with IT know how.
“We have to upgrade our workforce. We have to upgrade our skills and knowledge and go to the next level of development,”Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.
The Premier requested entrepreneurs to train the recently recruited graduates to make them well versed in IT. The Government will pay for them.
He also highlighted the need to accredit the quality of IT education given by various institutions.