New legislation to address land, labour, capital and tech laws: President's Economic Advisor

Addressing the Panel Discussion of the National Law Conference 2023/24 organized by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) held from June 2 to June 4 at the Grand Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, Senior Economic Advisor to the President Dr. R.H.S. Samarathunga has underscored the necessity of an extensive review of land laws, labour laws, capital laws along with technology laws for the purpose of complying with the terms of a competitive economy, said the President’s Media Division (PMD).

He pointed out that the Presidential Secretariat is analyzing a set of new legislation drafts at present that would broach these four fundamental areas.

Simultaneously, the Ministry of Labour has developed a new unified law in line with the present-day top-emerging global trends in employment in the wake of concerns voiced by both employers and employees.

Dr. Samaratunga underlined that the eight-hour work day is an outdated and ineffective approach to work. The modern Labour Law provides a framework for the functioning flexibility and growing standards of the labour market.

Fact remains that in order to score stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth, greater gender equality in labour force participation plays a vital role.  

He gave emphasis as to the manner in which the new Labour Law awaits to uphold broader engagement of women in the workforce, recognizing the prominence of gender equality as it spurs enterprise productivity and economic growth.

Further confidence was placed in the fact that the government would devote itself to the legislative proposal before long and assure its in-depth assessment through the parliamentary procedures.

The government is in the process of speeding up the digitization process to strengthen the economy, Dr. Samarathunga mentioned.

Identifying the recent breakthroughs and possible benefits of digital evolutions, the government is working towards expanding effective strategies towards taking advanced technological development on board and their transformation into various sectors.

Moreover, the second segment of the conference geared towards sectoral views on reinforcing the economy where a vast majority of both local and foreign core stakeholders annotated.