Privacy challenges in the rollout of digital ID scheme also come into focus

By Sanath Nanayakkare

Key officials of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank taking part in the Sri Lanka Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Summit in Colombo said yesterday that they would support Sri Lanka to become a digital economy powerhouse in the region.

The Ministry of Digital Economy had put together this two-day summit in partnership with the UNDP in Sri Lanka, the ADB and key collaborators including Huawei.

The Summit’s first session underscored the critical role of DPI as an enabler in building the country’s digital economy with universal DPI safeguards embedded to ensure safety and inclusion.

With transparency, safety and inclusion prioritized, the Summit 2025 brought together global leaders, key experts, innovators, and stakeholders from diverse sectors for dialogue and action on existing challenges and opportunities around DPI to accelerate economic growth and progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Key participants in the opening session included: Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy; Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy; Antonio Zaballos, Director, Digital Sector Office, ADB; Azusa Kubota, Resident Representative, UNDP Sri Lanka; Srikanth Nadhamuni, Founder CTO, Aadhaar; Keyzom Ngodup Massally, Head of Digital & AI Programmes, UNDP Chief Digital Office; and other high-level representations from the public and private sectors.

Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy stated that the government envisions Sri Lanka’s digital economy to reach $15 billion by 2030.

The eminent speakers emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships and cross-sector collaboration in successfully designing and implementing DPI at population-scale, particularly with the necessary safeguards to anticipate and mitigate risks.

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy said, “The primacy given to Digital Economy Acceleration by the Government of Sri Lanka is exemplified by the creation of the Digital Economy Ministry under the direct purview of His Excellency the President. The Ministry is committed to building a robust digital economy that benefits all citizens. Our goal is to use digital transformation to accelerate economic growth, achieve leapfrog elevation of Citizen and Business Services and eliminate asymmetries across the socio-economic pyramid. The establishment, and accelerated adoption of DPIs is a foundational pillar of this strategy. We are confident that the DPI summit will bring together the effort and commitment of likeminded stakeholders to support the achievement of Sri Lanka’s Digital Economy ambitions.”

Dr. Hans said on a lighter note that when he was in the telco industry , his main focus was ‘customer experience’ and now in his new capacity , his focus would be on ‘citizen experience’.

Takafumi Kadono, ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka commented, “Digital Public Infrastructure is an essential enabler of Digital Transformation. As our economies and societies digitalize, Government is called upon to provide the high-speed digital rails and competencies that this requires. We at ADB look forward to supporting Sri Lanka’s ambitions to become a Digital Economy Powerhouse.”

The ‘Transforming Local Administrative Data Collection Systems for SDG Acceleration in Sri Lanka’ project was highlighted during the event. Led by the Government of Sri Lanka, implemented by UNDP Sri Lanka and the World Health Organization (WHO) in SriLanka, and funded by the UN Sri Lanka SDG Fund, the project demonstrates Sri Lanka’s commitment to leveraging DPI for improved service delivery, economic efficiency, and citizen empowerment as a first mover country of the 50-in-5 global campaign.

Speaking at the Summit, Azusa Kubota, Resident Representative, UNDP in Sri Lanka noted, “Digital platforms can contribute greatly to building trust between government institutions and citizens by enhancing accessibility, transparency, safety, and responsiveness of services. As part of our commitment to advancing accountable institutions for SDGs attainment, UNDP, globally and locally here in Sri Lanka, supports designing national policy frameworks, building capabilities for digital adoption, as well as introducing tangible digital solutions for improved public service delivery. As Sri Lanka spearheads digitalization, this inaugural Summit is a pivotal step in Sri Lanka’s Digital journey.”

Keyzom Ngodup Massally, Head of Digital & AI Programmes, UNDP Chief Digital Office notably spoke about the Kenyan case when it came to digitalization of its national ID programme, and gave her insights on the robust privacy framework and universal safeguards that would be critical in the whole digitalization exercise.

A landmark ruling by the High Court of Kenya in 2021, concluded that the rollout of a country-wide biometric ID scheme was illegal. Kenya’s digital identity rollout was paused for the third time by the country’s High Court in July 2024, pending the outcome of a constitutional challenge.