NEW DELHI/COLOMBO, 15 April, 2021 (TON): The Indian Ministry of Science and Technology announced on Wednesday that governments of India and Sri Lanka have decided to support scientists of the two countries to undertake joint research on nine projects in various fields.

In August 2019, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and the State Ministry of Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research & Innovation of Sri Lanka had launched a joint call for proposals for research.

The research areas included; Food Technology, Plant base medicines, Metrology, Space Research & Applications, Robotics & Automation, Industrial Electronics, (vii) Renewable Energy, Waste Management, Information and Communication Technology, and any other project with national relevance (with Justifications), according to the Department of Science and Technology.

The departments have jointly decided to support 09 projects and 03 workshop proposals based on scientific merit, complementarities of the project objectives, scientific strengths of the project coordinators, national priorities and availability of budget.

However, the cooperation between India and Sri Lanka resulted for the call for proposals in science and technology dating back to 2008, and a total of 193 common proposals were received in response to the joint call for which the deadline was 28 February, 2020.