Indian envoy to Sri Lanka Ashok Kantha and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa jointly inaugurated the institute at Kaithady in Jaffna for which India has provided vehicles and supplied laboratory equipment to the tune of Rs 70 million.
The project is aimed at reviving the palmyrah industry in Jaffna district, which has over 3.5 million palmyrah trees.
The assistance will also help in expansion of research at the institute thereby improving the production and productivity in the northern and eastern province and benefiting around sixty thousand families whose livelihood depends on palmyrah either directly or indirectly.
During the visit to Jaffna, Kantha also monitored progress of other India assisted projects there.
Indian High Commission said Kantha traced the evolution of India's development assistance to Sri Lanka from the period prior to the end of armed conflict to the present and India's ongoing developmental projects in different sectors such as transport infrastructure, housing, health, education, culture.
