(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – The 10-day official program held for a group of Parliamentarians representing all Sectoral Oversight Committees of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, to study the committee process of the United States Congress under the complete financial sponsorship of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the technical support and coordination of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), was successfully completed recently.
The Chairpersons of the Sectoral Oversight Committees, representatives as well as the attached Parliamentary staff also participated in this study program. The Sri Lankan study group had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas about the functioning of the Committees of the United States Congress, which have been active for a long time, and to hold discussions with the members and senior level officials of the Sectoral Oversight Committees, including Senators. Moreover, the group got an opportunity to observe the processes at the state level of the country as well as to study innovative trends such as the public service sectors of the Congress.
Conducting cordial discussions with senior officials of the US State Department including the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Congressional Caucus on Sri Lanka were held along with attention being paid towards rebuilding the confidence of the citizens in a parliamentary democracy.
Furthermore, the Members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka paid great attention towards the standardized and qualitative level of research information and data provided by the American Congressional Research Center. The Parliamentary study group including the Hon. Parliamentarians especially emphasized that opening the space for the staff of the Parliament of Sri Lanka to take the required training and courses will lead to better results.
In addition, with the approval of the Speaker, the group also agreed to propose the introduction of a code of ethics and rules for the Committees with the approval of the Parliamentary secretariate. In order to implement all suggestions effectively, the study group agreed to meet monthly and discuss the results and suggestions without restrict the learning to the program itself.
