On October 20, 2020, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Russia Prof. M.D. Lamawansa together with the Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy Mr. Mohamed Anas, and Second Secretary (Commercial) Ms. Chathurika Perera, took part in an online discussion conducted by the Secretariat of Conference on Interaction & Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Representatives of 12 CICA member states including Sri Lanka, Russia, India, Iran, Jordan, UAE, Thailand, Cambodia, Qatar and CIS countries etc., participated in the Roundtable Discussion entitled Digital Economy and its role in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in CICA Countries. The discussion has special significance in the current milieu; faced with multiple challenges in the spheres of trade, economic and investment by the member states.
In her welcoming remarks, the speaker from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation underlined the urgent topics and practical aspects of cooperation to be taken to the next level in the post crisis recovery. It became obvious that pandemic has affected political and socio-economic spheres of every country and there was no state that could cope with the challenges imposed by covid-19 alone. She also mentioned that joint interaction with mutual respect, equality, positive dialogue, sharing best practices and exchanging opinion would help to overcome the challenges and significantly contribute to strengthening the regional comprehensive economic partnership with regard to the initiative of President V. Putin for sustainable development of Greater Eurasia.
The speakers from Russia, Azerbaijan, India and Jordan paid special emphasis to the development of digital platforms, which would provide the remote access to supportive measures for SME.
Ambassador Prof. M.D. Lamawansa made an intervention with recommendation that the digital platforms launched in different countries could also be used for the benefit of other member countries of the Forum. The moderator of the Round table, Mr. Sergashov, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation called CICA member states to share the presentation on the digitization initiatives with each other.