The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has clarified that measures are being taken to address issues related to the government’s outdated and non-functional official websites.
According to Ada Derana, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Thushara Rodrigo said the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, and many Sri Lankan diplomatic missions are currently running on outdated technology due to longstanding technical limitations.
Thushara Rodrigo revealed that a common website platform will be created for all Sri Lankan diplomatic missions and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as some websites may no longer be available if updates are carried out under the current circumstances.
Providing details on measures taken to resolve the issue, Thushara Rodrigo said that the project for the development of a unified platform is progressing under the guidance of the Ministry of Digital Economy, ICTA, and SLCERT, and that the contract for the project was awarded to a developer on 17 October 2025.
He further said that an interagency meeting was held on October 31 to connect all Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, identify their individual challenges, and coordinate the project, adding that work in this regard is expected to be completed by mid-January 2026.
Stating that this move to develop the Ministry and mission websites is being implemented under the instructions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thushara Rodrigo, pointed out that this is the first initiative of its kind under the government’s digitalization programme.
His clarification comes after Opposition MP Harsha de Silva raised concerns over the government’s outdated and non-functional official websites, especially those linked to foreign missions, economic diplomacy and overseas investment facilitation.
Addressing Parliament yesterday, SJB MP Harsha de Silva said that key webpages display information from 2018–2019, while some diplomatic mission sites lead to error pages. (Newswire)