France provides Euro 13.9 Mn soft Loan for dairy development

The Government of French Republic has agreed to extend its assistance to Sri Lanka by providing Euro 13.9 million (approximately SLR 2,514 million) concessional loan for the implementation of Development of Six Mini Dairies Project marrking the over 45 years old development cooperation between the Sri Lanka and France

 The proposed project will include complete modernization of the pre-selected six mini dairy cooperative societies and organizations by establishing state of the art equipment chains to produce pasteurized milk and sterilized milk at a capacity of 4,500 liters per day. The high-quality equipment will allow stable, homogenized and high-quality products with computerized monitoring. In addition, technical assistances will also be extended to dairy farmers in order to improve the breeding process by a French non-profitable entity and to carry-out a proper market survey on the dairy sector of Sri Lanka.

 It is also expected that; this initiative will support the Government’s ambitious target to achieve self-sufficiency in dairy production by 2020 and to contribute to closing the gap between demand for dairy and local supply.

Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media, Dr. R. H. S. Samaratunga signed the relevant Protocol Agreement on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and Mrs. Isabelle MISCOT, Chargée d’affaires of the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka, signed the relevant agreement on behalf of the Government of French Republic on 27th December 2017. Mr. Hervé SARNELLI, Economic Counsellor of the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka also participated in this event held at the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media.