A meeting between the Presidential Task Force on Essential Services and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was held yesterday (2020.04.15) at Temple Trees.
The primary objective of the meeting was to discuss whether Sri Lanka has the capability to manufacture personal protective equipment to meet the current demand that has resulted due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The meeting, which was chaired by Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, was attended by U.N. Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Ms. Hanaa Singer, UNICEF Sri Lanka Representative Mr. Tim Sutton and stakeholders from the apparel industry.
Representatives of UNICEF based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Kathmandu, Nepal, also participated via video conference.
The discussion centered primarily on the capability of Sri Lanka’s apparel sector to meet UNICEF’s weekly demand for 10 million face masks per week and one million surgical gloves.
Accordingly, a committee, headed by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI), was appointed to provide necessary coordination to the apparel industry for the production of personal protection equipment.
It was also decided to conduct daily review meetings to provide solutions for difficulties that may arise in implementing this plan.
UNICEF agreed to provide a mechanism for purchasing personal protective equipment that will be produced in Sri Lanka and to assist with quality and standards certification for the products within the next three months.
- Interview with Moditha Silva, Apparel Industry Expert.
