The government of Japan has provided grant assistance amounting to LKR 770 million to support Sri Lanka’s fisheries sector and the field of meteorology.Accordingly, a grant assistance adding up to JPY 160 million (approximately LKR 335 million) has been committed to the Project for the Establishment of Doppler Weather Radar Network in Sri Lanka.In 2017, the Japanese government had granted more than LKR 3.4 billion through JICA for the same project.

The purpose of this grant was to mitigate effectively the disasters caused by hazardous meteorological phenomena through the improvement of weather forecasts and information disseminated by the Department of Meteorology.Now, as a supplementary grant assistance of about LKR 335 million has been earmarked for the provision of Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) which is an essential part for securing reliable data communication especially in severe disaster situations where extreme rains, lightning, landslides etc.

can disrupt conventional communication.  This grant assistance is expected to be a great patronage to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to response of the Meteorology Department to natural disasters.Additionally, the Japanese government, under its Economic and Social Development Program, has allocated a grant assistance of JPY 200 million (approximately LKR 435 million) for providing supportive equipment for the fisheries industry in Sri Lanka.The objective of this grant aid to develop cold chain facilities and equip the fisheries sector with modern electronic equipment and, thereby realizing high value-added marine products and contributing to the upgrading the living standard of the fishermen in Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.  Under this Grant assistance, ice making machines, digital platform scales, sets of fishing net, refrigerator truck and prefabricated refrigerators/freezers are to be provided.

This grant assistance is expected to be a great patronage to reduce the constraints that exist in the value chain and increase the competitiveness, by promoting private sector investments in the fisheries industry.Exchange of Note pertaining to the aforementioned grants were signed by Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana and Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka Mizukoshi Hideaki, with the participation of Douglas Devananda, Fisheries Minister; Shehan Semasinghe, State Minister for Finance; and Yamada Tetsuya, Chief Representative of JICA’s office in Sri Lanka.