Published on: December 16, 2022

President’s Secretary presides over meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials for the Establishment of an Independent Institution for the Planning and Monitoring of National Policies

The inaugural meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials to establish an independent institution for planning and monitoring national policies was held at the Presidential Secretariat recently under the leadership of the Secretary to the President Mr. Saman Ekanayake, Secretary to the Prime Minister Mr. Anura Dissanayake and Chairman of the Finance Commission Mr. Sumit Abeysinghe.

Mr. Anura Dissanayake, the Prime Minister’s Secretary, stated that a National Council was appointed for the planning and monitoring of national policies according to the 21st Amendment of the Constitution, and two sub-committees were established under it.

One committee has been appointed under the leadership of Member of Parliament Mr. Namal Rajapaksa and a group of parliamentarians.

Under that, a National Assembly sub-committee has been appointed to identify the priorities for the formulation of medium and long-term national policies and in its first meeting held at the Parliament on December 01, the “Committee of Senior Officials for the Establishment of an Independent Institution for the Planning and Monitoring of National Policies” was appointed.

This committee was entrusted with the responsibility of formulating a national policy for the next 25 years from the year 2023, which is the vision of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Accordingly, the President’s Secretary instructed the committee to send their ideas and suggestions for the formulation of the new national policy to the President’s office before December 20, and explained the importance of taking into account the national policies that have been implemented in the country previously.

President’s Secretary Mr. Saman Ekanayake further stated that the draft of the new national policy will be ready by 27.12.2022 and it will be taken up for discussion by the committee members and the final report will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Department by 15.01.2023 for drafting of laws.

Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government M.M.P.K. Mayadunne, Secretary to the Ministry of Health S.J.S. Chandragupta and other committee members joined the discussion.

Mission

The Presidential Media Division is fully responsible for socializing the views, actions, decisions and statements of His Excellency the President through the media. Electronic, print and new media will contribute to this through a credible and engaging approach.

The media department works as a source of information on the subject of the President’s vision and mission by maintaining good coordination with public and private media organizations and journalists.

National policies, plans and measures are explained to the people through the use of high quality media. Identify the fallacies and reveal the truth.