Sri Lanka and Japan have reached a basic agreement to provide four years of Agro-Technology training in Japan for young Sri Lankan students who finish school education.
The agreement was made between Sri Lanka’s Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara and the Mayor of Gojo city, Japan, Yoshinori Ohta.
Minister Manusha Nanayakkara, who is on a visit to Japan, met with a Japanese delegation including the Mayor of Gojo, Chief Executive Officer Noriyuki Minami, Director of Foreign Relations Division of the Japanese Parliament Iwao Horii, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Iwase Kiichiro, and Kawai Hiromi of the Japan Lanka Friendship Association.
During the discussion, the necessary basic agreements have been reached regarding the training programme.
According to this programme, after appearing for the A-level examination, the chosen young people can come to Japan and get training with a four-year degree course in the field of agriculture. Also during that time, they will get an opportunity to strengthen cultural exchanges between the two countries as the students will be living in Japanese houses.
In Japan, the students will have the opportunity to get further training, especially in modern agricultural technology.
It has also been agreed to develop Galle as a sister city of Gojo and this programme is scheduled to be implemented in conjunction with the completion of 70 years of Japan-Sri Lanka bilateral relations.
Before starting the student exchange programme, the schools of Gojo city are going to implement an exchange programme by connecting with the schools of Galle district through the internet.
In addition, the Minister held a special discussion with the Japanese representatives regarding the opportunities available in the IT field in Japan for the youth of Sri Lanka.
The Kawai University officials of Japan made a special presentation before the Minister regarding the job opportunities available in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Agricultural Processing Technology and Information Technology.
The cabinet paper submitted by Minister Nanayakkara proposing that Japanese language learning should be included in the School curriculum in Sri Lanka garnered a positive response from the Japanese officials.
Dr. Ruwan Perera, Sri Lanka Japan Employment Relations Chief Representative and Prof. Ashu Marasinghe organized the meeting. (NewsWire)
