The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) of Parliament had Secretaries of three Ministries joining its committee meeting through online (ZOOM) for the first time in history yesterday (26).

Accordingly, post the commencement of the COPE Committee yesterday evening under the chairmanship of Prof. Charitha Herath, Secretary to the Ministry of Health (Dr) H.S Munasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Industries W.A Chulananda Perera and, the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government J. J Ratnasiri joined the meeting via zoom technology.

Environmental Audit Report on water pollution of Kelani River was brought up for discussion and the meeting continued without any technical hindrance.

Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake said that; facilities have been provided to hold meetings and discussions using online technology in two committee rooms in Parliament. Furthermore, the Secretary General stated that Parliamentary officials had been working relentlessly for months to install the requisite technological tools and that those efforts are now successful and future Parliamentary meetings could be held online as a result.

The Committee on High Posts under the chairmanship of the Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena held discussions with the new Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kenya who was residing in Uganda using online technology recently.