THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Sri Lankan Food Security Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera has proposed an action plan for collaboration between Sri Lanka and Kerala in the area of food and civil supplies. The plan will cover student exchange programmes, training modules for government officials on both sides, investment promotion and other areas such as food preservation, Perera told reporters after holding discussions with Food Minister Anoop Jacob.
Perera said that he would submit a proposal to the Cabinet on his return. After that, Sri Lanka and Kerala can work out a proposal between government secretaries and then prepare an action plan. Perera and his team has shown interest in the dehydrated vegetables and fruitsbrought out by the food department, Anoop Jacob said. “Sri Lanka has asked for the technology. We are expecting some markets there,” he said. Kerala can also train Sri Lankan officials in various aspects of food technology and food
safety, he said. Perera said that soon invitations would be extended to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Anoop Jacob for visiting Sri Lanka and taking the proposed collaboration further. The meeting between the two ministers began with a presentation of the Public Distribution System in India and Kerala. The Sri Lankan team was given an insight into the functioning of the Civil Supplies Department, the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation and the paddy procurement and distribution mechanism in the state.
LUXURY CRUISE SERVICE
T’Puram: Procedures connected to the proposed Kochi-Colombo luxury cruise service will be completed in a month, Sri Lankan Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said here on Thursday. The trip will take just 16 hours, he said. Sri Lanka proposes to promote tourism on a ‘large scale,’ he said, adding that the people of Sri Lanka and Kerala had an inter-linked history. The proposal for the cruise circuit had been announced in April after Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar and top tourism officials visited the island nation and held discussions with the Lankan Tourism Minister Navin Dissanayake.