President Maithripala Sirisena awards a young cooperative employee winner at the 96th International Cooperative Day event in Batticaloa. Photograph credit: thesundayleader.lk

During the International Day of Cooperatives celebration in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, President Sirisena announced that the Sri Lankan co-operative movement will be invited to sit in future sessions of the National Economic Council (NEC). He announced several relief measures, including exemption of the sector from paying income tax, as a way to revitalize the sector. President Sirisena bolstered the confidence of the audience by sharing how he started his career as an employee of a cooperative, and how he believed that co-operatives were people’s movement. Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, in-charge of the Ministry of Co-operatives, added that co-operative employees will receive additional allowances and pensions, and co-operative organizations struggling to pay off their loans will be provided funds from the Treasury.