| SRI LANKA IMPROVES LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SERVICES COLOMBO, June 21, 2000. The World Bank today announced a US 2 million credit to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a Legal and Judicial Reforms Project, which will support efforts to improve the efficiency, predictability and transparency of the Sri Lankan legal and judicial system. Specific areas targeted for reform are a stronger legal and regulatory framework; enhanced professional development within the legal profession and in the country's law schools; greater access to the law; judicial reforms and an updated Company Registry. The Legal and Judicial Reforms Project supports the government's objective to build an efficient legal system responsive to the needs of the public at large and the private sector in particular.?The project provides technical assistance to strengthen legal drafting capacity, the status of legal education within Sri Lanka, and the judiciary.?It specifically addresses weaknesses in the legal / regulatory framework; institutions responsible for law reforms; and access to accurate legal information. The project also seeks to ensure that the judiciary is well prepared, judges and court staff will be trained in gender and ethnic sensitivity. "There is strong sentiment among the key stakeholders that legal and judicial reforms are needed to improve the performance of the state, create an enabling policy environment for private sector development, and to increase access for the poor, thereby building momentum for the government's broader legal reform efforts," said Maria Dakolias, Legal Counsel and Task Leader for the project. Other areas supported by the project include updating the commercial law curricula in three Sri Lankan Law Schools, improving case management in the judiciary, and improvements to the Companies Registry, the central repository of key business records and data. This project also finances the modernization of information systems which will enhance access, efficiency, quality and transparency of legal information. Total costs for the project are US 14 million, of?which the government of Sri Lanka will contribute US 94 million. The US 2 million equivalent interest-free credit is provided to the government of Sri Lanka by the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary lending affiliate, on standard IDA terms with 40 years maturity and a ten-year grace period. For more information on this or other South Asia Projects, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/sarprojects | 
