The United States Mission to Sri Lanka last week announced the launch of a new multi-year initiative, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), aimed at promoting economic growth in Sri Lanka’s East.

The new program, Connecting Regional Economies (CORE), is designed to increase social and economic security in Eastern Sri Lanka. By addressing the disparity in economic development between Eastern Western Province, CORE aims to establish conditions whereby sustained economic development can be launched.

At the provincial and community levels, the CORE program will focus on improving the supply chain and market linkages between producers, processors, and the end markets in five districts of the Eastern, North-central and Uva Provinces. To achieve this goal, USAID will promote the competitiveness of agriculturally based businesses and improve access to markets. A large component of the program will partner with the private sector whenever feasible to encourage long-term private sector investment. In addition, the program will support a component for livelihoods development for vulnerable populations and develop workforce skills amongst youth and other at-risk groups.

At the national level, CORE will focus on promoting business-friendly policies that will enable enterprises in the target geographic areas to grow, generate jobs and develop local economies.

The USAID-funded CORE program will be implemented by The Services Group, a US-based company, in coordination with five Sri Lankan Government Ministries – the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure, the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services, the Ministry of Export Development and International Trade, the Ministry of Plan Implementation, and the Ministry of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion - and the Provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Industrial Development of the Eastern Province.