“Authorities should be more committed to spearhead Digital Economy Agenda”
In many countries digital economy has been growing at a higher pace than the GDPs and Sri Lankan authorities too should be more committed to spearhead and drive the Digital Economy Agenda in line with President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s vision said newly-elected Chairman Indika De Zoysa, Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka.
De Zoysa stated that Sri Lanka was way back at 4% of GDP compared to the rest of the developed countries who boasted of digital economy in the range of 20% of GDP, whilst the world average ranged at 30%, whilst developed nations boasted of a digital economy in the range of 40%.
He mentioned that it is an upheaval task for Sri Lanka but was confident that FITIS, with its board and its membership spanning the entire spectrum of the local ICT sector, can deliver upon this promise.
He appealed to all FITIS members to stay focused on the digital economy vision as it would be the last chance for Sri Lanka to boost its economy.
De Zoysa, who is also Strategic Advisor of Huawei Technologies Sri Lanka, reiterated on the importance of aligning the entirety of FITIS Chapters with less than one umbrella to contribute to the national agenda in terms of boosting Sri Lanka’s digital economy to USD 15 billion by 2030 from USD 3.7 billion in 2020.
Outgoing Chairman Dr. Prasad Samarasinghe mentioned that there may be a need to necessitate constitutional amendments and consolidation of chapters to ensure greater benefit to FITIS members. He also highlighted that the two strategic focuses of FITIS will help drive exponential growth of organizations and also the thrust around intellectual property (IP) will boost the Digital Economy to greater heights.
He further elaborated on actions taken during the several crises to support the industry and business community and thanked the outgoing board, all past chairmen, all Exco members, FITIS staff and all partners and sponsors who supported FITIS during the past year.
De Zoysa fields a dynamic and versatile team, comprising Senior Vice Chairman Dr. Dayan Rajapakse, Chairman of ESOFT Group of Companies, Vice Chairmen Channa De Silva, CEO of LankaPay and Thariq Sanoon, CEO of Gennext.