Address of Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Her Excellency Dr Harini Amarasuriya Asia Pacific Conference

“Rural development is not a peripheral issue. It is central to sustainable development." — Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Her Excellency Dr. Harini Amarasuriya delivers the inaugural address at the Asia Pacific Conference in Sri Lanka. 🇱🇰 The Asia-Pacific Conference on Innovations in Rural Development and the CIRDAP Knowledge Circuit Dialogue officially opened on October 7 in Colombo with a compelling keynote address by Her Excellency Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. The high-profile gathering assembled prominent leaders and delegates from across member states, including Sri Lanka's Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, Hon. K. D. Lal Kantha; Director General of CIRDAP, H.E. Dr. P. Chandra Shekara; and Director of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI), Prof. Dr. A. L. Sandika. In her address, Prime Minister Amarasuriya called for a fundamental shift in the regional discourse on rural transformation, urging institutions to move from discussing what needs to be done to celebrating what local communities are already accomplishing on the ground. She noted that meaningful innovation does not always require high costs or complex infrastructure, as demonstrated by the 18 remarkable awardees of the CIRDAP-REEDS International Rural Development Innovation Challenge 2026. The Prime Minister reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to actively contributing to the mission of CIRDAP and deepening partnerships with member countries. Her address reinforced the message that rural development is central to sustainable development and that empowering communities to shape their own futures is essential to building inclusive and resilient rural societies.