Samantha Kumarasinghe (The writer is an entrepreneur and an industrialist.) It is now an openly-discussed incident that the former Central Bank Governor had misused his authority to allow a company that his son-in-law is a director/major shareholder of to make billions of rupees in undue profits at the expense of Government and other public funds. The subject […]

By Abdul Samad Courtesy Ceylon Today This article is with reference to Mr. Dayan Jayatilleka’s write-up published on colombotelegraph.com dated 7 April 2017. It was titled, The Avurudu sale of Sri Lanka-Who will stop it? The writer makes a very valid point arguing the case for Sri Lanka to be with China as opposed to India. […]

By Kasun Warakapitiya and Shaadya Ismail Courtesy The Sunday Times Sri Lanka’s construction industry is facing a shortage of manual labour, sources say, and Indians and Chinese workers are filling the gaps.   The Board of Investment estimates that 60,000 manual workers are needed in the construction sector, but 20,000 are employed. Companies registered under the […]

 S V Krishnamachari Courtesy International Business Times With a following of 6.08 million on Twitter and 12.7 million on Instagram, Jacqueline Fernandez is seen as an “influencer” by the juice maker. Sri Lankan model-actress and sexiest woman in the world Jacqueline Fernandez has invested $543,000 in Rakyan Beverages Private Limited, a company that makes the Raw Pressery […]

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy  The Hindu Project developer hopes investments to the tune of $13 billion to start coming in from 2018; targets major investors from South Asia, particularly India It is hard to miss the blue-lettered boards lining the northern end of Galle Face, Colombo’s iconic seafront. A new Central Park in Colombo”, A new world […]

 Courtesy portstrategy.com Sri Lanka’s government is seeking to reduce China Merchant Port Holdings’ stake in a strategic port project by up to a quarter as part of a renegotiation aimed at addressing public and political opposition to the deal, Reuters has reported. China Merchants Port Holdings had been expected to pay $1.12bn for a 99-year […]

By Norman Palihawadana Courtesy The Island April 2, 2017, 10:48 pm Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has offered conditional support to a mega Chinese investment project in the Hambantota District. Former President Rajapaksa yesterday told The Island that his support would depend on the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government and China agreeing to adopt the original investment plan finalised during […]

By C. A. Chandraprema March 26, 2017, 6:50 pm The Indian press carried anxious commentaries about the recent visit of Chinese Defence Minister General Chang Wanquan to Sri Lanka. India Today observed that this visit took place amidst warnings issued by the Chinese media to the effect that Beijing will fight back if New Delhi […]

Sputnik A deputy chief of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said that Russia has proposed to set up a service center for Russian-made helicopters in Sri Lanka. © SPUTNIK/ MAKSIM BOGOVID Russia, Sri Lanka Discuss Delivery Contract of Gepard 3.9 Frigates LANGKAWI (Sputnik) – Russia has proposed to set up a service center for Russian-made helicopters in Sri […]

Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy Adaderana The European Union (EU) has called on Sri Lanka to make ‘prompt and concrete’ progress in fulfilling international commitments on human rights and labour rights ahead of last phase talks on regaining GSP Plus from the EU. The second meeting of the Working Group on Governance, Rule of Law and Human […]

Wade Shepard ,  CONTRIBUTOR Courtesy Forbes Trying to develop its infrastructure to increase its economic potential has plunged Sri Lanka deep into a pit of debt, pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy and prompting an IMF bailout. The official estimate of what Sri Lanka currently owes its financiers is $64.9 billion — $8 billion of […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island March 5, 2017, 10:04 pm Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says that the country is suffering for want of what he calls workable formula to achieve post-war development objectives. Comparing the period in the aftermath of successful conclusion of the war in May 2009 with that under the current yahapalana administration, […]

Press release – Global Expo on Tea & Coffee at Mumbai INDIA The vision of World Tea Coffee Expo Mumbai India is to expand the Indian Beverage business by providing all sourcing requirements under one roof Growing in size and stature every year, the 5th edition of World Tea Coffee Expo comes back to Mumbai […]

Courtesy South China Morning Post Beijing wants issues surrounding port and industrial zone scheme resolved before deal is finalised, according to sources familiar with the matter China will delay a planned US$1.1 billion investment in a port on its modern-day Silk Road” until Sri Lanka clears legal and political obstacles to a related project, sources […]

Xinhua News COLOMBO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka is to lose the Google Project Loon as the company was looking for other options, a minister said here on Thursday. Harin Fernando, Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, told a news conference that there was a delay on the part of the International Telecommunication Union […]

Courtesy International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development Sri Lanka aims to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA) with China later this year, said the country’s ambassador to Beijing last weekend. The two Asian economies have been negotiating a trade deal since 2014. Sri Lankan ambassador Karunasena Kodituwakku also confirmed to journalists in the Chinese […]

Courtesy The Asian Age Goyal has said that the airport staff refused to help her and advised” not to carry bags if she cannot handle them. Mumbai: Nidhi Goyal (31), a visually-impaired activist from Mumbai, has alleged that she was humiliated by the ground staff at Colombo airport for not being able to carry her […]

By P K Balachandran  Courtesy The New Indian Express For decades before and after Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, India’s relations with the island nation were political and adversarial. But since the second half of the 1990s, there has been a gradual shift to trade, development assistance and investment, in that order. While India has been […]

Source: Xinhua   2017-02-07 20:47:12 COLOMBO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka and Israel have discussed the possibility of establishing direct air links to increase the number of tourist arrivals into the island nation, the Tourism Ministry said here Tuesday. Renewed efforts are being made to position Sri Lanka as an attractive destination for the outbound […]

IANS/Beijing Courtesy Gulf Times  Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday told his Sri Lankan counterpart Maithripala Sirisena that he was willing to work to consolidate political trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and deepen people-to-people friendship”. Xi and Sirisena yesterday exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two nations, […]

Courtesy The Hindu Sri Lanka aims to finalise a free trade agreement with China this year and the country’s Prime Minister will visit Beijing in May, the Sri Lankan Ambassador said on Saturday, amid rising concern in the South Asian nation about Chinese investment. Hundreds of Sri Lankans clashed with police at the opening last […]

Pathfinder Economic Flash Last month there were reports in the press that a group of Indian citizens was planning to raise their national flag on the island of Kachchativu to coincide with India’s Republic Day celebrated on 26 January.  That threat failed to materialize. February is an important month for another reason. Around that time […]

  වසන්ත සමරසිංහ අන්තර් සමාගම් සේවක සංගමය වෙනුවෙන්, පසුගිය ජනවාරි 28 වන දින බෝගල මිනිරන් පතල තුළදී සිදු වූ ජීවිත හානිය පිළිබඳව දැඩි කණගාටුව පලකරන අන්තර් සමාගම් සේවක සංගමය, පාලනාධිකාරිය විසින් සේවකයන් බිල්ලට දී තම ලාභය පමණක් අරමුනු කොට ගෙන සකස් කරන ලද වැඩ පිළිවෙලවල් තුලින් මෙම අවාසනාවන්ත මරණය සිදුවූ බවට ද ප‍්‍රකාශ කර සිටිමු. […]

Courtesy Adaderana The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) is legally eligible to issue medical degrees to the students, the Court of Appeal has ruled on Tuesday. The Appellate Court has also directed the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to give provisional registration to medical students passing out from SAITM, Ada Derana reporter […]

S.S. Selvanayagam Courtesy The Daily Mirror  The Malambe Private Medical College better known as SAITM, hailed the Appeal Court ruling which allows the provisional registration of SAITM’s MBBS graduates. Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sameera Senaratne said in a statement that according to the laws of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) was always obliged […]

Courtesy Adaderana January 27, 2017  08:52 am China says it has never asked Sri Lanka to allow only Chinese enterprises to operate in the Hambantota Industrial Zone, a development project which had recently sparked protests in Sri Lanka. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying on Thursday said the agitation against the industrial zone is a result […]

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy Adaderana January 27, 2017  08:01 pm Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that he left the Presidential Palace for Medamulana at 6.00am on January 09 with the intention of retiring and taking a small break at home but it was the people who told him no you can’t retire, come back.” But I would […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror  Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), which was once dubbed as a ghost airport by both local and foreign commentators, has suddenly turned into life becoming one of the busiest airports in the world, due to the temporary closure of Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for the relaying of its decade-old runaway. With […]

Courtesy Adaderana The COPE report on the Central Bank bond issue has already been sent to the AG by the Prime Minister’s Office before it was approved by Parliament yesterday, the President said. President Maithripala Sirisena made the observation while speaking at an event held at the Abeyaramaya temple in Narahenpita on Wednesday. Then the […]