The Sri Lankan government to establish 150 mini garment factories in selected districts including Eastern and Uva Provinces, according to proposal made by Industry and Commerce Minister, Rishad Bathiudeen to empower the women in rural areas.

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal to implement the program to establish 150 mini factories of cooperative/joint ventures model with trained women in 2016 as the first phase.

The selected women will be given training in tailoring by the Sri Lanka Institute of Textile and Apparel while National Entrepreneurship Development Authority and the Industrial Development Board will train them in entrepreneurship development. Assistance in designing will be provided by the National Design Centre and the Jathika Shilpa Sabawa.

Under the programme, rural women will be selected through a transparent method and the priority will be given to those who belong to displaced families and who became widows due to the civil war.

The programme is designed to encourage small and medium scale entrepreneurs in approaching the international market and provide job opportunities for rural women.

Sale of produced garments will be done by coordinating exporters and national level buyers at the rural level.