The Japanese Government will be assisting Sri Lanka to reduce the use of polythene and plastics and provide technical assistance in recycling them, the Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Hideaki Mizukoshi said.
He made the comments after meeting with the Environment Minister and the Ministry Secretary at the Ministry to discuss environmental issues after assuming his duties in Sri Lanka.
The Ambassador appreciated the programmes that are already in place to protect the environment, like reducing carbon emissions, reducing the use of plastics and polythene, and reducing the accumulation of polythene and plastics in the oceans by preventing the entry of polythene and plastics into the ocean under the Surakimu Ganga programme.
During the discussion, the Ambassador also spoke on the successful programmes currently in place for the recycling of polythene and plastics in Japan, as well as the new technology being used for this purpose.
He said that a team from Sri Lanka could be sent to Japan for this purpose and that they would be allowed to gain new technical knowledge and experience.
It has been revealed that the 100-year-old ‘Marubeni’ Company of Japan is planning to invest in the construction of a wind power plant in Mannar.
“The concept of utilising renewable energy sources is very close to the Japanese economy. Therefore, Japan is assisting Sri Lanka to develop renewable energy sources,” Foreign ministry sources added.
Every effort was made by Japan to uplift the tourism industry in the country. Despite the collapse of the tourism industry with the spread of the coronavirus, the tourism industry in Sri Lanka is seeing resurgence under the new normalisation situation.
In that context, Sri Lanka expects more Japanese tourists to visit Sri Lanka in the future adding that the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Japan has prepared a special program for this purpose.
a large number of Japanese tourists will visit Sri Lanka in the near future due to these tourism promotion programs which are being carried out with the direct interference of the Embassy,” foreign ministry sources added.
