President Anura Kumara Disanayake held a meeting this afternoon (08) at the Presidential Secretariat with senior officials of the Sri Lanka Customs Department.
The discussion focused extensively on identifying solutions to challenges arising from the complexity of customs procedures. Attention was also drawn to the technological solutions implemented thus far as part of the department’s institutional digitization process and the obstacles encountered in that effort, particularly in the context of achieving the government’s goal of establishing a digital economy by 2030.
In this context, the President instructed officials to expedite the process of amending existing legislations, identifying it as a key challenge that must be addressed without delay.
A review was conducted of the on-going ASYCUDA system and its existing shortcomings, the National Single Window service, and key challenges such as accurate recording of imports and exports, the granting of tax exemptions and the proper identification of revenue. The discussion focused on digitalization as a means to address these issues and assessed the progress of measures already implemented.
Additionally, the President addressed the growing concerns surrounding e-commerce and called on officials to deliver efficient and fair, customer-centric solutions to the issues currently faced in this area.
The meeting was attended by Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, Senior Presidential Advisor on Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijesuriya, Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Russell Aponso, Director General of Customs P.B.S.C. Nonis and other officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Digital Economy.
