• Claims common website platform under creation for Min. and diplomatic missions  

Responding to concerns raised by the main Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Parliamentarian Dr. Harsha de Silva in the Parliament on Monday (17) regarding the Government’s outdated and non-functional official websites, the Foreign Affairs Ministry clarified the issues stem from obsolete technological foundations used across Governmental and diplomatic mission websites.

Dr. de Silva criticised the Government’s official websites, particularly the sections related to economic diplomacy and overseas investment facilitation. He highlighted that key webpages still display information from 2018-2019 and noted that the “Office of Overseas Sri Lankans” link on certain diplomatic mission sites leads only to error pages.

Issuing a response to Dr. de Silva’s speech, Ministry Spokesperson Thushara Rodrigo emphasised the problems raised are due to longstanding technical limitations. He explained the websites of the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Ministry, as well as many Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, are currently running on outdated technology. He further stated that “some websites may no longer be available if updates are carried out at this stage. To address these complex technical issues, a common website platform will be created for all Sri Lankan diplomatic missions and the Ministry.” A contract for the development of this unified platform was awarded to a developer on 17 October of this year and the project is progressing under the guidance of the Digital Economy Ministry, the Information and Communication Technology Agency, and the Computer Emergency Readiness Team, he explained. He noted that an interagency meeting was held on 31 October to connect all Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, identify their individual challenges, and coordinate the project. He added the work is expected to be completed by mid-January of next year (2026). This comprehensive approach to developing the Ministry and mission websites is being implemented under the instructions of the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism Minister, he said, noting that this is the first initiative of its kind under the Government’s digitalisation programme.