Courtesy NDTV

The fishermen were arrested off the coast of Mannar in the northeast and Delft and Kachchativu islets in the north on Saturday.

Colombo: 

Twenty-seven Indian fishermen were arrested for allegedly poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, the island nation’s Navy said on Sunday. The fishermen were arrested off the coast of Mannar in the northeast and Delft and Kachchativu islets in the north on Saturday, it said.

The Sri Lankan Navy held two Indian trawlers that continued to remain in island waters off Mannar, with 15 Indian fishermen aboard while three Indian trawlers with 12 fishermen aboard were apprehended near the Delft and Kachchativu Islands, officials said.

The arrested fishermen were handed over to the authorities for further legal action, they said.

In September, 17 Indian fishermen were arrested off the coast of Jaffna’s Kakarathivu island.

The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with the Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan’s territorial waters.

N. SAI CHARAN Courtesy The Hindu

As per the revised schedule, the high-speed craft Cheriyapani will ply between the two places only on October 16, 18, 20, and 23, say sources.

A day after its launch, the operation of the high-speed passenger ferry service between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Kankesanthurai in the northern province of Sri Lanka was cancelled on Sunday.

The frequency of operation has been rescheduled to thrice a week before its scheduled suspension after October 23.

After a gap of nearly four decades, the ferry service between India and Sri Lanka resumed on Saturday with Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Tamil Nadu Ministers E.V. Velu and S. Regupathy flagging off the high-speed craft (HSC) Cheriyapani at the Nagapattinam port. The ferry had a 14-member crew and 50 passengers onboard while it left for Sri Lanka and around 30 passengers were onboard the vessel in its return journey from Kankesanthurai the same evening.

Earlier, the Shipping Corporation of India and Tamil Nadu Maritime Board had planned to operate the ferry service every day from October 14 for ten days and suspend its operation after October 23 till January owing to onset of the northeast monsoon as the vessel was not suitable for operation during rough weather conditions, official sources said.

As per the revised schedule, the ferry would ply between the two nations only on October 16, 18, 20, and 23, sources said, adding that the change had been made to optimise operations by conducting test runs.

Meanwhile, the Nagapattinam District Small and Tiny Industries Association has demanded that infrastructure be upgraded at the Nagapattinam port to handle container ships.

In a letter to Mr. Sonowal, the association said that there were no ports with the requisite infrastructure to handle container ships between Chennai and Thoothukudi on the eastern coast and pointed out that household articles and commodities, including onion, had been exported to Singapore and Malaysia from Nagapattinam port in the past.

It further said that infrastructural development at the port was crucial for creating employment opportunities for the locals and people from the neighbouring Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, and Tiruvarur districts, and for the economic growth of the Cauvery delta region.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that Sri Lanka is benefiting from the fact that free trade has made it easier for the international movement of goods and the flow of capital. 

In an exclusive interview with Chinese state-run TV news channel CGTN, the Head of the State mentioned that it is beneficial for both Sri Lanka and Asia as it offers development opportunities.

Indeed, if we could join the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), we would have access to the world’s largest market. We once hoped to establish the South Asian Free Trade Area, but it failed to materialize”, he said.

Furthermore, Wickremesinghe emphasized that joining the RCEP is feasible for Sri Lanka, because the island nation has close ties with RCEP members. 

Sri Lanka shares deep cultural ties with not only China but also Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia”, the President said, adding that to further expand cooperation with China, Japan, South Korea and Australia, we need to strengthen our economic competitiveness”. 

We are willing to work towards this end, because joining the RCEP would mean competing in the global market as China did.”

We hope to explore markets and attract investment in more regions”, Wickremesinghe added.

Meanwhile, the President, who expressed that in fact, Sri Lanka’s trade policies have been established gradually over the past 20 to 25 years whereby the country has removed many barriers to trade with other countries, highlighted that the island nation is benefiting from the fact that free trade has made it easier for the international movement of goods and the flow of capital.

It’s beneficial for both Sri Lanka and Asia as it offers development opportunities.”

Speaking further, President Wickremesinghe stated that if anyone wants to end this model now, it should be done through consultation with all parties involved rather than being dictated by the West”. 

Even in the U.S. and Europe, there are voices against this.”

The President also pointed out Sri Lanka’ position is that the World Trade Organization (WTO) should make the decision, adding that if adjustments are made, they should be reached through joint consultation. 

It’s wrong to take unilateral actions”, Wickremesinghe said.

Courtesy The Fishing Daily

BLOOM sues the French State, supportive of environmental destruction in the Indian Ocean

Sri Lanka needs to follow the example of Maldives and focus on its Fishery and Tourism industry to generate foreign exchange while preventing poaching by so-called ‘aid donors’– EU, Japan, South Korea and other distant water States.

While the world is praising the laborious completion of the UN treaty on the High Seas, a concrete and urgent EU-Africa example shows that all the treaties in the world will not put an end to the violence of the unsustainable and inequitable exploitation of the resources of the South by industrialized countries: today, BLOOM has no choice but to sue the French state in two separate proceedings, one before the French Council of State, the other before the Administrative Court, for its destructive and irresponsible attitude in the Indian Ocean. Conflict of interest, illegal derogations, lack of fleets’ control, withholding of environmental data, etc. France holds an impressive record of complicity in tropical tuna fisheries, which are operated by 23 French industrial vessels in African waters and especially in the Indian Ocean.

After having reported in mid-November to the public prosecutor (who has since opened an inquiry) a case of potentially illegal defection from the French administration to the tuna fishing lobby, BLOOM continues its legal actions and investigations to limit the omnipotence and impact of opaque distant fishing activities, which are excessively destructive for marine life and the ocean’s health. In addition to bringing the French administration’s abnormal behavior to court, BLOOM today reveals the results of a groundbreaking study, showing that the French State conducts no control over its industrial distant-water vessels.

In an attempt to mask its complacency towards the constant fraud of its fishing fleets in Africa, France is currently lobbying hard in Brussels to change European standards. If France succeeds to undermine the European ‘Control Regulation’ on fishing fleets, it will hit the jackpot: on the one hand, it will escape an infringement procedure opened against France by the European Commission, and on the other, it will have made the fraud of French tuna fleets the new norm in Europe.

In distant water tuna fisheries, as unfortunately in too many marine issues, France is exerting a toxic influence of the highest order. The next trilogue on the reform of the Control Regulation to be held under the Swedish Presidency, on 8 March, could be the last. There is an urgent need to curb France’s enormous and harmful power in Africa and within European institutions.  

Two court summonses and a European infringement procedure

Since 2015, France has granted its tuna fishing fleets in the Indian Ocean the ‘right’ to fish illegally through a ‘circular’, which blatantly infringes the European law. Today, BLOOM is requesting the French Council of State to repeal this circular, which is also one of the reasons why the European Commission opened an infringement procedure in June 2021 against France, as this text contradicts the law and will also lead to an environmental disaster. Indeed, industrial fishers and the French government are trying to make the future EU Control Regulation match the illegal ‘legal’ exception they have created for themselves through this ‘circular’. They are asking for a ‘margin of tolerance’ – i.e. a margin of error – of 10% on catches declared on the total catch and not species by species, as is the case in the current EU Control Regulation. This semantic change may seem insignificant, but if this request were accepted, the repercussions for marine ecosystems and coastal economies in the Indian Ocean would be catastrophic,” warns Frédéric Le Manach, scientific director of BLOOM. Such a change would make the collection of quality data incredibly unlikely, as the species making up these catches would no longer matter but the overall ‘volume’ of the catch. This would have dramatic consequences for the monitoring of the health of marine ecosystems and the establishment of proper quotas. It would allow the continued overfishing of already endangered species, such as yellowfin and bigeye tuna.”

In a response to BLOOM on 17 February 2023, the French State refers to the circular as an obsolete text, but does not change anything as the French government has failed to repeal its own illegal derogations. BLOOM is bringing the matter before the French Council of State today to put an end to the illegal catches of the French fleets.

In addition, BLOOM is also bringing a case before the Administrative Court in the face of the French administration’s implicit refusal to transmit key data on the control of French tuna vessels and on the number and location of the highly technological floating rafts that the industry is using to catch every last fish in Africa: the so-called drifting ‘fish aggregating devices’ (FADs) (see section ‘Find out more’). After receiving a favorable opinion from the French Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (Commission d’accès aux documents administratifs; CADA) on the nature of its requests, BLOOM hopes that the Court will be highly responsive, as each day that passes allows French fleets to plunder African waters with total impunity.

A groundbreaking analysis shows France’s lack of control over tuna fishing fleets

In a groundbreaking analysis, we reveal today that the French State does close to nothing to control its tuna vessels, although they represent a major part of French fishing. Our analysis, which is based on fisheries control statistics published for the first time by France, shows that the State has set no concrete control objectives for its tuna fisheries in 2022 and 2023. Even if some controls have been carried out – despite the absence of objectives – in areas where these vessels are active, the information in our possession tends to show that these controls concern almost exclusively foreign vessels, and that French tuna vessels are hardly – if ever – inspected at sea or in port.

This lack of control is not a surprise since it is what motivated the European Commission to open an infringement procedure against France in 2021, following an audit conducted in 2018. What is more surprising is that despite the threat of legal action before the European Court of Justice, France has still not acted on any changes and continues to turn a blind eye to the destructive practices and organized fraud in tuna fishing.

The consequences of the State’s complicity in the conduct of fisheries are very real, and terrible, not only for the marine ecosystems that have been destroyed, but also for the coastal communities that depend on them. France must get its affairs in order to finally represent the general interest in a democratic and transparent way, instead of defending a clique of industrial fishers that misbehave in every possible way.

The full Report Eyes wide Shut” is available at:

https://thefishingdaily.com/latest-news/french-state-sued-over-environmental-destruction-of-indian-ocean/

French State sued over environmental destruction of Indian Ocean (thefishingdaily.com)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Oct 10 (DailyMirror) – The sea level rise, triggered by climate change, will deprive Sri Lanka of 6,110 of land by 2025, and 25,000 hectares by 2100, an expert said yesterday.

Addressing a workshop under the theme ‘Climate Changes Impact on Health’ in Wadduwa, Kalutara, Dr. P.G. Hemantha Kumara who is the Vice President of Association of SAARC Food said Sri Lanka is ranked world’s second in the global climate risk index due to the high count of extreme weather events within a year.

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The event has been organized by the Association of SAARC Food in Sri Lanka and World’s Poultry Science Association in collaboration with the United States Soybean Export Council in view of World Egg Day.

Referring to the severity of pollution committed in Sri Lanka, Dr. Kumara who is also the Deputy Director of the Horana Base Hospital said over 200,000 lunch sheets and about 150,000 polythene bags are used daily and the per capita per month consumption of polythene in Sri Lanka is about 0.5 kilos.

Commenting on the direct effects of climate change on health, he said it may be due primarily to increased temperatures and the frequency and intensity of heat waves.

These effects are mediated by induction of heat stress conditions. Depending on its intensity and duration. Heat stress may negatively affect livestock health by causing metabolic alterations, oxidative stress, immune suppression, and death,” he said.

He said weather and climate change are likely to affect the biology and distribution of vector-borne infections. For example, temperature changes, global wind and precipitation patterns, and changes in relative humidity in temperate climates will affect positively the reproduction of insects and, consequently, their population density,” he said.

Regarding its impact on animal health, for example, he said climate change can cause high motility rate of the chickens, low egg and meat production, emergence of new poultry diseases and its distribution and low quality, unhealthy eggs and meat.

This, according to him, affects food security.

As an expert, he stressed the need to have a health system that is prepared for prevention and responds with the increased anticipation of diseases and natural disasters.

According to him, between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress. The direct damage costs to health (excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), are estimated to be between USD 2-4 billion/year by 2030. 

By P.K.Balachandran  Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, October 14 (Counterpoint): In the context of the unprecedented ferocity of the Hamas-Israeli war, many Israelis are disillusioned about their country’s claim to be a safe haven for persecuted Jews from across the globe.

Many wonder if their dream of living happily in a State of their own after millennia of persecution in exile, has turned into a nightmare.

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But the blame for this is put entirely at the doorstep of the incumbent and longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is accused of complacency, manipulation of institutions and corruption, and these are cited as the cause of the unmitigated disaster that is now unfolding in Israel.  

But even leading commentators have failed to go beyond the immediate causes to the root cause – that is Israel’s consistent failure to address the Palestinian political question since Israel was founded in 1948.

Zvi Bar’el, writing in the liberal daily Haaretz supports the war against Hamas, which he brands as a terrorist outfit. But he trains his guns not so much at Hamas but at Netanyahu.

Zvi Bar’el says that Israel is now headed by a corrupt leader, a criminal defendant who just a moment ago was investing all his effort in carrying out a judicial coup.”

Natanyahu has marked the army, the Shin Bet security service and a majority of the public as enemies of the people. And now he’s leading the country into a war in which nobody even knows the precise goals, much less the outcome.”

Bar’el points out that it was Netanyahu who spent years nurturing Hamas. Netanyahu exploited the public legitimacy he gained 11 months ago to wage a war on democracy, and now in his mad race toward a war of vengeance.”

Like other Israeli commentators, Bar’el makes no mention of the Palestinian political problem which is the root of all troubles in Israel.

David Brinn, writing in Jerusalem Post on October 13, gives full vent to his complete disillusionment with Israel both as a country and as a concept. He argues that the history of Israel has been pockmarked with battles that have proved that the safe haven theory is erroneous.”  

His contention is that a false sense of security had enveloped Israel following the unprecedented victory in the 1967 Six Day War.  Complacency led to poor intelligence gathering, and that in turn, brought the country to the brink of extinction, Brinn explains.  

The last 50 years have remained more than turbulent, with two bloody intifadas, numerous wars with Hezbollah in the North and Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza, and a rising number of victims killed precisely because they were Jewish or Israeli,” he points out.

But all that paled in comparison to the large-scale massacre that took place last weekend, Brinn points out.

It was a before-and-after watershed moment in the lives of Israelis that has forever shattered a number of long-held tenets,” he contends.

Given the colossal security lapse, there is a lack of trust in the country’s political leadership, and that is something that will never be regained”, Brinn predicts gloomily.

He also claims that Israelis are leaving Israel for their safety.

And those of us who remain will never leave our homes again without looking around the corner, and checking the media pushes and text messages about the situation outside,” he says.  

But there is a ray of hope, according to Brinn. But his hope does not rest on a deep understanding of the problem. He merely asserts that the Israelis will unite, fight Hamas and secure peace.  

But in his recipe for a united and secure Israel, accommodation with the Palestinians and acceptance of their political rights and long- standing demands, are not an ingredient.

An exception to this normal Israeli line is an article in Haaretz by Gideon Levi. Levi asks Israelis to spare a thought for the two million people of Gaza, where scores of towns are being pulverized by Israeli bombardment.

Levi says: No animal commits such acts of savagery as they (Hamas) did. Still, Gaza is home to more than two million people, about half of whom are descendants of refugees, which is something that should also be kept in mind now, despite the difficulty.”

Gaza is plagued with Hamas, and Hamas is a despicable organization. But most residents of the Gaza Strip are not like that. Before we start flattening and destroying and uprooting and killing, we should take this into account. The reckoning must be with Hamas, not with all Gazans. One’s heart must go out to them, regardless of one’s profound solidarity with Israel’s victims,” Levi says.

He goes on to says that Israel can’t imprison two million Gazans without paying a cruel price. It should be possible to stand with the residents of the south, while still remembering that living on the other side are human beings just like them. We should be able to fear for the fate of Gazans and distinguish between them and their Hamas leadership. It should be possible, even in the current atmosphere, to speak about Gaza in human terms. A new generation was born into even greater despair.”

Levi then asks: Is it possible to remain indifferent, even to joke in some cases, at the sight of the images from Gaza? How is this possible? How is it possible to forget that these are human beings whose ancestors were expelled from their land and placed in refugee camps where they would remain?”

These were human beings whom Israel dispossessed and expelled, whom it conquered again in their land of refuge and then turned into animals in a cage. They’ve experienced indiscriminate bombardments before, but now the worst of all is ahead of them,” Levi says.

A powerful indictment indeed. But even Levi does not mention the need for a political solution to the Palestinian question. He does not call for meaningful negotiations on the Palestinian question and a sincere implementation of the agreements arrived at.

There is no remorse over the sinister machinations of successive Israeli governments to weaken the moderate, secular and internationally recognised Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its military outfit Fatah, by promoting the radical Islamist Hamas. It was Israel which financed Hamas to grow and function as a counterpoise to the PLO and Fatah.

The idea was to keep the Palestinians from uniting and fighting for their cause effectively. But today, Hamas has come back to torment Israel as a Frankenstein’s monster.

Courtesy OdisavTV

“India and Sri Lanka are embarking on a new chapter in diplomatic and economic relations. The Ferry service brings alive all historical and cultural connections,” he said in his virtual video address on the occasion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka.

“India and Sri Lanka are embarking on a new chapter in diplomatic and economic relations. The Ferry service brings alive all historical and cultural connections,” he said in his virtual video address on the occasion.

“Partnership for progress and development is one of the strongest pillars of India – Sri Lanka bilateral relationship,” he said further.

During the recent visit of Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe, Modi informed that a vision document was jointly adopted for an economic partnership with the central theme of connectivity. “Connectivity is not only about bringing two cities closer. It also brings our countries closer, our people closer and our hearts closer”, Modi said.

He underlined that connectivity enhances trade, tourism and people-to-people ties, while also creating new opportunities for the youth of both countries. “Projects implemented with Indian assistance in Sri Lanka have touched the lives of the people,” the Prime Minister added.

“Our vision for connectivity goes beyond the transport sector,” he said, adding that India and Sri Lanka collaborate closely in a wide range of areas such as fin-tech and energy.

Noting that digital payments have become a mass movement and a way of life in India due to UPI, the PM informed that both governments are working on fin-tech sector connectivity by linking UPI and Lanka Pay.

He also touched upon connecting the energy grids between the two nations to enhance energy security and reliability as energy security is crucial for the development journey of both India and Sri Lanka.

Modi expressed his gratitude and thanked the Sri Lankan president, the government and the people of Sri Lanka for the successful launch of the ferry service today.

He also spoke about working towards resuming the ferry service between Rameswaram and Talaimannar. India remains committed to working closely with Sri Lanka to further strengthen our bilateral ties for the mutual benefit of our people,” the Prime Minister concluded.

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka.

“India and Sri Lanka are embarking on a new chapter in diplomatic and economic relations. The Ferry service brings alive all historical and cultural connections,” he said in his virtual video address on the occasion.

“Partnership for progress and development is one of the strongest pillars of India – Sri Lanka bilateral relationship,” he said further.

During the recent visit of Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe, Modi informed that a vision document was jointly adopted for an economic partnership with the central theme of connectivity. “Connectivity is not only about bringing two cities closer. It also brings our countries closer, our people closer and our hearts closer”, Modi said.

He underlined that connectivity enhances trade, tourism and people-to-people ties, while also creating new opportunities for the youth of both countries. “Projects implemented with Indian assistance in Sri Lanka have touched the lives of the people,” the Prime Minister added.

“Our vision for connectivity goes beyond the transport sector,” he said, adding that India and Sri Lanka collaborate closely in a wide range of areas such as fin-tech and energy.

Noting that digital payments have become a mass movement and a way of life in India due to UPI, the PM informed that both governments are working on fin-tech sector connectivity by linking UPI and Lanka Pay.

He also touched upon connecting the energy grids between the two nations to enhance energy security and reliability as energy security is crucial for the development journey of both India and Sri Lanka.

Modi expressed his gratitude and thanked the Sri Lankan president, the government and the people of Sri Lanka for the successful launch of the ferry service today.

He also spoke about working towards resuming the ferry service between Rameswaram and Talaimannar. India remains committed to working closely with Sri Lanka to further strengthen our bilateral ties for the mutual benefit of our people,” the Prime Minister concluded.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A renowned CNN Correspondent Sara Sidner, has issued an apology following a controversial statement she made during a live broadcast stating that the Israeli Prime Minister’s office had confirmed that the Hamas had beheaded babies in Israel.In her apology, Sidner acknowledged the need for caution and precision when reporting such sensitive and disturbing information. She admitted that her previous statement, suggesting that the Israeli Prime Minister’s office must have proof if they were confirming these acts of the Hamas beheading babies, was not an appropriate choice of words.Yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said that it had confirmed Hamas beheaded babies & children while we were live on the air. The Israeli government now says today it CANNOT confirm babies were beheaded, she tweeted adding that I needed to be more careful with my words and I am sorry. The words I used were the PM’s office must have proof if they are confirming this. Then President Biden confirmed seeing it. And then backed tracked,” she said.Many leading social media activists have called for her resignation over the misinformation and have demanded accurate reporting over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Courtesy Adaderana

Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to arrest the officials who were responsible for importing and distributing substandard antibodies using forged documents and distributing them to state hospitals.

Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrama had further directed the CID officers to produce the suspects before the court before November 16.

The order was delivered when a complaint filed by ‘Purwesi Balaya’ and other civil organizations before the CID was taken up before the court on Friday (Oct. 13).

Earlier this month, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) had said a batch of human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) imported to Sri Lanka from India in violation of the due procedure was suspended from use.

In a media release, NMRA chairman Prof. S. D. Jayaratne had said forged documents were found to have been submitted for Customs clearance when importing the drug which later failed the quality tests.

The product, manufactured by Livealth Biopharma Pvt Ltd. India, was imported by a local medicine supplier called Isolez Biotech Pharma AG (Pvt) Ltd.

The NMRA had said the situation came to light following reports of allergic reactions after the drug was administered to several patients under treatment at the Colombo National Hospital and the Matale District Hospital on August 22 and September 16, respectively.

As doubts were cast about the quality of the drug, the NMRA had received several reports that sounded the alarm. It was uncovered that the relevant vials containing human IVIG, an antibody produced by blood plasma cells, had not been registered with the NMRA prior to being imported.

Additionally, it had been observed that not only the due procedure had not been followed when the batch of vials was brought into the country, but the Waiver of Registration (WOR) was also not obtained. The NMRA has found that the document submitted as the WOR had been forged using NMRA letterhead and the signature of a senior official.

When contacted, the India-based manufacturer has told the NMRA that it no longer produces this drug. The medicines regulator asserted that this drug had been imported and used in the country without its approval.

On Wednesday (Oct. 12), it was revealed that measures were taken to suspend and cancel all medicine supplying orders given to Isolez Biotech Pharma, as per a directive from Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

Courtesy Adaderana

State Minister of Investment Promotion Dilum Amunugama on Friday (Oct. 13) announced plans to establish a Japan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Zone here.

The lawmaker mentioned that Bingiriya and Iranavila areas have been selected for this purpose.

His remarks came during a news conference at the Presidential Media Centre, held under the theme ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

Amunugama further elaborated on the progress related to the port city, which has been temporarily opened to the public.

He said the Port City is being developed under a third-party agreement, with an allocation of USD 15 billion. China Harbour Engineering Company has already completed 80% of the construction work. According to him, the legal framework necessary for doing business in the port city has been prepared and several operating regulations are scheduled for approval by the Parliament.

Speaking further, he mentioned that investments of about USD 1.6 billion have already arrived, with an additional USD 1.6 billion in investments underway, adding that the government is planning to sell 28 project land plots to investors, including 74 plots for business purposes and 44 for public use.

He said, additionally, activities to establish a Japan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Zone in the Bingiriya and Iranavila areas are in progress, supported by the Japanese-Sri Lankan business council and Japanese entrepreneurs interested in creating free trade zones in Sri Lanka.

Courtesy Adaderana

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has commended the progress Sri Lanka has made thus far with regard to the resolutions under their agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking at the IMF – World Bank meet on India’s Group of 20 (G20) presidency, particularly in response to a question raised regarding the concerns pertaining to the G20 common framework for debt restructuring and claims that progress made under this framework is ‘too slow’, Sitharaman explained that albeit Sri Lanka having been categorised as a middle-income country, it was later on the verge of being graded a low-income country when the economic crisis came about, and thus, it could not be addressed by the common framework.

The crisis could not be addressed by the common framework because it was a middle-income country, it couldn’t qualify to be addressed within the common framework it was outside”, she explained.

The Finance Minister noted, however, that when compared to many other countries the speed with which Sri Lanka is getting its resolutions through the IMF is very good”, and speedy compared to the common framework”.

Speaking further in this regard, Sitharaman noted that today, many financial institutions, including the IMF, have realized the need for such processes to be speedier.

Emphasisng the value of Sri Lanka’s progress with regards to the IMF agreement and its resolutions, Sitharaman highlighted that the very formation of the creditor committee through a sovereign debt roundtable, which the IMF established together with the World Bank under the India presidency to address the issue of Sri Lanka’s debt crisis, is one that is likely to be used as a template for any other country in the future.

Albeit agreeing to the fact that the process, could, in fact, be speedier, Sitharaman said It is moving as per the formula and speedily, it can be speedier, that’s a different story, but the fact is at the moment it is very speedily”.

Sudath Gunasekara, in The Island, 16 December 2018,

  Vision and mission on water management in Sri Lanka!”

A recent study on Sri Lanka has identified it as one of the six countries that share one half of the 0.3% drinkable water this planet has. What is even more important and surprising is that ours has been identified as the only country in the world that will have drinking water even if there is going to be a shortage of drinking water in the whole world. This news has made water the biggest asset and the most valuable commodity of Sri Lanka that has put it on the top of the world.

The secret of this unique asset, gifted by nature lies in the following geographical blessings of nature.

Sri Lanka’s relative position on the globe in relation to latitude and longitude, its location in the middle of the Indian Ocean extending up to the Antarctic Ocean, the third largest body of water in the world after the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, covering at least 1/5th of the world’s total ocean area open to all sides, being traversed by the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone in relation to the global wind belts, its insularity and its size, the geology and overall topography characterized by a central highland surrounded by a narrow coastal plain in the south-west and south and a broad one in the W, NW, N, East and South-East that has determined the drainage pattern of the Island, the peculiar topography and the nature of alignment of land forms, both vertical and horizontal.

The central mountains have facilitated the interception of the SW and NE monsoons and even influenced the convectional rain in between the monsoons. The forests cover on the central mountains also has contributed heavily and critically on the volume of rainfall and the perennial flow of streams. The forests, with their canopy and the anchoring root system and the underlying geology have influenced the stability of the central hill country and the total volume of water stored by the Central hills both over ground and underground, converting it into the biggest natural reservoir in the country. It also has guaranteed the perennial flow of all major rivers. Thus, all these factors together have made Sri Lanka the first among countries blessed with this nature’s invaluable gift.

In sum, the Central Hill Country functions as the Geographical Heartland of the nation that keeps the entire life system, both fauna and flora, and the civilization of Sri Lanka alive and vibrant. This is why I call it the Hadabima or heartland. Its physical stability decides the fate of the entire life system in this country as much as the beat of the heart decides the fate of a man. The day the heart stops, a man dies. Similarly, the day the physical stability of the central hill country ceases to exist, the curtain will fall on the entire life system as well as the civilization in this country. This critical and unique situation calls for the protection of the Central Hill Country as the ‘Heart’ of the nation, and the mother watershed of the country, acting as a natural reservoir providing perennial water. All these factors have contributed heavily to elevating this country to the first place among the countries with drinkable water. Against this backdrop, perhaps, we could rise as a water exporting country in the future to this thirsty world. Sri Lankan water could be even a big foreign exchange earner in times to come, provided we protect this national wealth.

 The Geographical Heartland of Sri Lanka

Next let us look briefly at what climatological factors have contributed to this nature’s asset.

The first is the heavy rainfall. Mean annual rainfall in Sri Lanka is around 2000 mm (Arulanandan 1985) distributed over the surface area of 65, 610 square kilometers. This gives an average volume of 131, 230 million cubic meters (m3) of fresh water. Rainfall is received from the South-West Monsoon (May – September), North-East Monsoon (November to March), and between the monsoons through tropical convectional developments. Thus generally the island is blessed with rain throughout the year.

Average annual river flow 31% of the Rainfall 40,680 million m3 (Bocks 1959) (going to the Sea) The balance 69% (90, 550 million m3) is used and transpired by crops and natural vegetation or evaporate from the soil directly to the air 65 % of the wet zone catchment rainfall is discharged in to rivers. Out of this 77% is discharged by Kalu Ganga

Although the overall whether pattern may not have changed over time, things like decreased annual rain fall, increased river flow and resulting loss of large volume of water into the sea, depletion of the ground water table, increase of surface run off and erosion and land degradation have enormously increased due to large scale deforestation (over 600 000 acres on the central watersheds) after the introduction of plantation agriculture to the central hill country in the mid-19th century. Regarding the reduction of the volume of water in the Uma Oya, Samuel Baker has observed that the flow of Uma Oya was reduced by 50% after deforestation for plantations. This again highlights the importance of protecting the forest cover on the Central Water Sheds of this nation. This perception is further proved when Arnold Toynbee said, Ancient Sri Lanka once achieved the tour de force of compelling monsoon smitten highlands to give water, life and wealth to the plains below.” Therefore, it is now well established that plantation agriculture introduced by the British has severely affected the pre-colonial water potentialities of this island. In spite of this devastation of over 600,000 acres of virgin forest by the British colonials, I am surprised to note that world authorities have found that this country is still on the top of the six countries that have the highest potentials of drinking water. Imagine what would have been the position if the original forest cover was there intact.

What the Sri Lanka Government should do: First to maintain the status quo, and then to restore the pre-1815 situation. I strongly believe that no government in the post-Independence period has governed this country properly. None of them has realized the country’s potentials or how it could be developed. Nevertheless, assuming that at least in the near future the people of this country will get a people’s government elected, I will make few proposals here for it to implement.

Firstly, in order to maintain the status quo in relation to the water situation mentioned above, and secondly, to protect the Central Hill Country and restore the physical stability of the hill country to its pre-1815 conditions, and in order to achieve both these objectives the first thing we should do is to restore and protect the central hill country, the country’s Geographical HEARTLAND”.

That will be the cornerstone of this whole programme. In order to fulfil this task we should treat the hill country in three parts: namely a) 300-900m (1000-3000ft), b) 900-1500m (3000-5000ft) and 3) above 1500 m (5000ft)

1 Step One

Declare all lands over 1500m (5000 feet) above sea level as a strict conservation area (Thahanchikele as it had been before 1815 and) and re-afforest them with endemic vegetation in areas where natural re-generation does not take place. Planting exotic trees like Pines, Gum and Cinchona or any others should be totally banned. No development work or settlements should be allowed within this region

2 Step Two

Limit tea plantations to 900-1500m lands with strict land use policies and cultivation practices like strict soil conservation policies, banning cultivation on land over 60% slope, defined riparian belts, critical water sheds and limiting settlements to meet bare necessities such as factories, administrative buildings and settler clusters in suitable places. Establishment of villages in this region should be immediately stopped.

3 Step three

Land over 300-900m (>1000-3000ft) should be used for smallholder farm settlements of mixed crops like tea, coffee, pepper and cloves, Kandyan Forest Gardens, Dairy farming and settlements preferably managed on a cooperative basis. The Sri Lanka HADABIMA Project could be entrusted with this responsibility as it has the required experience and knowledge to handle this aspect of Agricultural development. The same model could be replicated in areas below 300 m (1000ft) where possible (There will very little problems here as this region already has this model under traditional village settlements system).

If these land use policies are properly implemented in these four regions, the first and most important watershed management followed by solving landlessness and rural economic development of the upcountry of Sri Lanka will be completed. This will also complete the rehabilitation problem of the neglected Kandyan Peasants that has been hanging on from 1951.

Managing river flows and storing the maximum volume of water

This is the next important step in this national water management Programme. We noted above that 65% of the total annual rain water is just allowed to flow to the sea as river flow. If we could save at least 50 % of this volume, it would significantly enhance the water availability and agricultural potentials of the country.

There are two ways of doing it. The first is by storing it in reservoirs as is being done at present by trans-basin diversions on land like Minipe Ela and Jayaganga that takes their waters to Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura respectively. The second is by diverting by tunnels where it is appropriate, as it is done at Polgolla, which takes the waters of Mahaweli to NCP and at Nalanda to Kala Oya, through the Lenadora Tunnel. These are the only two project undertaken in this field in modern times though there is another unknown but marvelous trans-basin diversion called the Pattipola Bhoo Ela, a medieval diversion where the waters of Damabgastalawa (a head stream of Kotmale Oya is diverted through a tunnel measuring 10 ft in diameter, 40 feet below surface level to the Uma Oya. The ongoing Uma Oya – Kirindi Oya tunnel Diversion (the controversial) also could be grouped under the same category. I would like to mention two other new proposals that have not been attempted either in the ancient times or the modern.

a) Diverting Kalu Ganga waters to Walave going up to even Kirindi Oya

b) Diverting Kelani waters to the Diverting NE and  Kalu Ganga to South and South East will be even more important than Kelani waters to NW

for Four reasons. Firstly, Kalu Ganga is the river that discharges the biggest volume 77% of (7862million M3) out of the total of 65% percent of Wet Zone catchment rainfall to the sea. Secondly, it is the least used river for irrigation purposes. Thirdly, it is also the river that brings the highest flood devastations and finally, its diversion could enhance the Walawe potentials while bringing a new lease of life to the drought stricken South and South-Eastern lowlands. This will also be a novel idea hitherto not tried by policy makers or planners.

I remember my good friend and eminent irrigation engineer, D.L.O. Mendis, once mentioned to me about a proposal to this effect he mooted. But it has never seen the light of the day. A trans-basin canal passing through the Denavaka valley, and thereafter that traverses along the foot hills of the Southern Great wall extending even up to Kirindi Oya, might be able to transform the geographical landscape of the whole region through new settlements, new agricultural activities and agro-base industries. If constructed, this canal also will be the longest manmade irrigation canal in Sri Lanka.

The next is diverting Kelani waters to the NW. If the topography does not permit taking water under gravity by a canal, then alternative techniques should be devised to take the water to the required area. This will put an end to the water problem in drought stricken North Western Province. Kelani River also discharges 5,474 million cubic meters to the sea annually.

Furthermore, both these projects if undertaken will also reduce the present flood hazards and enable us to make use of the enormous volume of water presently going down to the sea annually.

Constructing Barrages

Constructing barrages in all suitable places along the rivers technically feasible to collect water and control floods. I do not know anyone has even given serious thought to this idea. It was only last week one Sunil Gamage, a Vet scientist and my friend who came out with this bright idea, as we were discussing the merits of the Polgolla diversion as against the controversial Uma Oya diversion. I think this is a wonderful idea in many aspects. A large number of benefits such as storing river flow to be used at lean times, enhancing the ground water table in the neighborhood, downstream flood control, reducing serious siltation in downstream reservoirs enabling them to store more water (as happened in Kuluweva in the Dry Zone in ancient times), increasing the irrigation and hydro-electricity generation capacities of major reservoirs like Victoria, Randenigala and Rantembe, and providing new locations for river diversion.

Victoria Dam

Regular maintenance of Dry Zone tanks and irrigation works

It is a well-known fact that poor maintenance of these works has led to enormous wastage of valuable rain water the country receives annually, flowing down to the sea. We also had a very rich tradition of annually de-silting and repairing of tank bunds and repairing all irrigation canals as a community responsibility. The catchments and wevtavulu were protected as strict reservations and they never disturbed, unlike today. These practices of a farmer community have become things of the past. As a result, all major tanks are filled with silt, and therefore the storage capacities of almost all tanks have got reduced. Following a few showers tank sluices are opened for the water to escape fearing dam breach. The net result is the loss of enormous volumes of precious rain water going down to the sea unused. But meanwhile, I have seen some people talking about harvesting rain water in artificially constructed tanks. Isn’t it a pity and a tragedy too that these people have not even understood the difference between a natural reservoir and massive cement plastered concrete tank. Even if our modern engineers go for concrete tanks under the concept of modernization in place of natural reservoirs one should not get surprised. As for me, I am also against concrete canals replacing natural canals, though they have long distance carrying capacity, as they miserably fail to maintain natural advantages.

Conclusion

Generally, the importance of water in our civilization was properly understood by our ancient Kings. Among them, Dhatusena, Kasyapa, Vasabha, Mahasena and Parakramabahu the Great, rank pre-eminent. It was Parakramabahu the Great (1153-86) who said that, Not a single drop of water that falls from the heaven should be allowed to escape to the sea without being utilized for the benefit of man”. Obviously they knew the value of water in our culture. Thus, although we owe a rich water conservation legacy (perhaps the best in the ancient world), of water management as expounded by them, unfortunately, later generations have paid little or no attention to this philosophy on water management of our forefathers. The present day rulers are clueless of this great tradition. They are only concerned with personal gain and power.

The ancient Kings never constructed reservoirs in the hill country. Except in few places along the Mahaweli Ganga that went up to Kotmale; they never opened up settlements in the hill country either. They had protected and prohibited the whole hill country as the nation’s mother watershed untouched (thahanchikele). Therefore, I strongly recommend the need to revisit the ancient wisdom and to commence a vigorous programme of restoring and protecting the central hill country immediately, as the cornerstone of this programme and then de-silt and maintain the tanks and irrigation canals annually. This has to be supported by a very strict water management policy particularly in the irrigation sector, as suggested by eminent scholars like Prof G.H. Peiris in his study on Minipe as there is an enormous wastage of irrigation water by our farmers, compared with countries like Pakistan. Thereby, we can increase the acreage cultivated. It would also be interesting to note here that in the ancient times they have cultivated three kannas a year.

This is to be followed up by the proposals as mentioned under Managing River flows and storing the maximum volume of water” above.

I hope for a new vision and a novel mission in water management in Sri Lanka for policy makers and Planners!

by A. Abdul Aziz Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Sri Lanka.

In today’s (13^th October 2023) Friday Sermon, delivered at ‘Masjid Mubarak’, Islamabad, Tilford, United Kingdom, Supreme Head of the world wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad asked Ahmadis to pray for the situation in Palestine and Israel and spoke about the injustices being carried out.

His Holiness said:

I wanted to ask for prayers in relation to the current situation of the world. In the past days, a war has started between Hamas and Israel due to which civilians on both sides – women, children and the elderly – are being killed or have been killed, without any distinction.

Even at times of  war, Islam does not permit the killing of women, children or anyone who is not participating in the war, and this teaching was strictly established by the Holy Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

The world is saying – and it has some truth to it – that Hamas initiated this war and killed Israeli civilians indiscriminately. Leaving aside the fact that the Israeli army has been killing innocent Palestinians prior to this, Muslims should always act according to Islamic teachings. If there is a legitimate war, then it can take place against the army, but not against women, children and the innocent. Nevertheless, the step Hamas took was wrong; it caused more harm than good. 

In response [to Hamas’ attack], the punishment or war should have remained against Hamas alone – this would have been true bravery and the correct response. However, what the Israeli army is doing now, is extremely dangerous and it seems this will not stop. The number of lives of women and children that will be lost cannot be imagined. 

The Israeli government announced that it will completely wipe out Gaza and to do that it endlessly bombed Gaza, reducing it to a pile of ashes. The latest development is that the Israeli government is saying that more than 1 million people should leave Gaza, and some have begun leaving already. 

Thankfully, though a weak voice, the UN has raised some concern that this is against human rights, is wrong, will create a lot of problems and that Israel should rethink this instruction. Instead of condemning Israel outrightly, they [the UN] are making a mere request.

Nevertheless, the innocent who are not participating in the war are not to be blamed. If the world sees Israeli women, children and civilians as innocent, then the Palestinians are innocent also. 

The teachings of these People of the Book also say such killing is not allowed. Muslims are blamed that they have committed wrong, but these people should look at themselves too. 

The UK Ambassador of Palestine was interviewed by the BBC and, in response to a question, said that Hamas is a militant group, not the government, and that the Palestinian government has nothing to do with them. He also raised a valid question – that if true justice had been established, then this situation would not have arisen. If world powers do not have double standards, then such disorder and warfare can never even occur. Thus, end these double standards and the wars will end themselves.”

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said he has been saying these points for a long time, in light of Islamic teachings, but in response leaders agree without any action.

His Holiness continued:

Ignoring justice, all the world powers – or Western powers – are uniting to punish Palestinians, and conversations are being held everywhere about sending armies.” 

Ahmadiyya Khalifa also spoke about the misinformation in the media that is being spread. It is often the case that pictures are shared to try and prove injustice against Israelis, but later it is found out that the pictures were actually of Palestinians, yet there is no retraction in the media for this.

His Holiness said that it seems the world powers do not want this war to end. After World War One, the world powers created the League of Nations, but it proved to fail due to justice not being upheld, and World War Two ended up taking place. This is the same situation as the UN. It was created to end wars and aid the oppressed, but has clearly failed in its objective. 

He continued to say the war that will take place now due to the current injustice, we cannot even comprehend the destruction that will be caused and everyone knows this, yet there is still no focus on establishing justice in the world, nor is anyone highlighting this point.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said at least the Muslim nations should pay heed, and erase their own disagreements in order to establish unity. If Muslims have been told in the Quran to improve relations with the People of the Book, then Muslims, who share the same kalmia (declaration of faith), why can they not place their problems aside and come together. This is the only way to rid the world of the disorder we see today. Then, as one, they must raise a voice against those who are oppressed.

If there is unity, there will be power in the voice that is raised. Otherwise, these Muslim nations will be responsible for the loss of innocent lives. We should keep the teaching of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in front of us, to aid both the oppressed and the oppressor (by stopping them from oppression).

In the end, Ahmadiyya Khalifa prayed:

May Allah the Almighty grant wisdom and understanding to the Muslims governments, and may they unite to uphold justice. May He also grant wisdom and understanding to the powers of the world, so that instead of causing destruction in the world, they strove to save it from destruction. It should always be remembered that when destruction occurs, even these powers will not remain secure.”

The only weapon we possess is the weapon of prayer. Thus, more than ever before, all Ahmadis should use the weapon of prayer.”

Source: Al Hakam, London.

Krithiga Narayanan courtesy DW Asia

Sri Lanka’s economic reforms are slowly taking hold, but as hunger and poverty continue to rise, observers say the country still has a long way to go before people see improvements to their lives.

For several years, Sri Lanka has been facing challenges on multiple fronts, exacerbated by an economic crisis that unleashed food, electricity and fuel shortages.

In 2022, Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt obligations, which ushered in a $3 billion (€2.8 billion) bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Although shortages of essential commodities have subsided, hunger and poverty are on the rise, said Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, economist and researcher at the Point Pedro Institute of Development in Sri Lanka.

“The official inflation figures, including food inflation, have drastically declined, but the ground reality is very high prices of essential food items that are beyond the reach of substantial sections of the population,” he told DW.

According to a recently released UN report, Sri Lanka’s poverty rate rose from 13% in 2021 to 25% in 2022.

Sri Lanka economic and political upheaval

During the height of the economic crisis in 2022, the people of Sri Lanka took to the streets, demanding changes in governance and an end to corruption.

“One year after, these demands are yet to be fully realized and there is disappointment in sections of society,” said Bhavani Fonseka, human rights lawyer and researcher at the Center for Policy Alternatives, a Sri Lankan think tank. “Despite some months into the IMF program, there are continuing challenges,” she told DW.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that he remains committed to bringing about these changes, and has taken steps towards addressing leakages in tax administration and expansion of the tax net. A new anti-corruption bill is also currently being debated in Parliament.

“It will take a long time for these measures to bear fruit, if at all, if they are implemented faithfully.” said Sarvananthan. “Tax evasion has been part of Sri Lanka’s economic governance psyche in the past forty years or longer. It is hard to tame this in a short period of time.”

Nishan de Mel, executive director of Verite Research, a Sri Lankan economics think tank, said that Sri Lanka’s crisis is “first and foremost a crisis of governance.”

“It is that which led to the economic crisis and tends to prolong the economic crisis,” he told DW.

“Attempting to fix the economic variables without fixing the governance variables, will make Sri Lanka like the proverbial man who built his house upon the sand. It is unlikely to be sustainable,” he added.  

Only 40 of the 71 commitments in the IMF program due by the end of September have been verifiably met, according to Verite Research, particularly the commitments regarding transparency, governance and improving revenue.

The think tank’s “IMF Tracker” measures the progress of Sri Lanka’s commitments in the IMF bailout program.

Verite Research’s de Mel believes Sri Lanka has become increasingly non-transparent with its actions under the program.

“As of September 2023, there is no information on about 30% of the commitments due to have been completed,” he said.

“Three of the four commitments on transparency, have not been met. The one exception is with regard to publishing the IMF compiled governance diagnostic,” he added. The expert also believes that the IMF could have been more transparent with its economic reform plans.

“Not even the members of parliament in Sri Lanka were able to know how the economic recovery program was designed, after it had been already approved by the IMF board. This is a serious suppression of democratic space,” de Mel told DW.

Latest IMF tranche delayed

At the end of September, the IMF said it was unable to reach a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka over potential revenue shortfalls. The next tranche of $333 million will not be released until such an agreement is made.

Peter Breuer, the IMF’s senior mission chief for Sri Lanka said in late September after the IMF’s first review mission that to “increase revenues and signal better governance, it will be important to strengthen tax administration, remove tax exemptions and actively eliminate tax evasion.”

The Sri Lankan government has raised taxes to overcome this revenue shortfall. Verite Research’s de Mel has criticized this move.

 “Instead of increasing the tax base, the government has increased the tax rates on the minority of firms and people that are paying taxes in Sri Lanka,” he said.

“They have also passed several new, targeted, tax holidays, tax exemptions, and tax reductions, to specific firms, specific investors, and specific monopolistic industries, despite being in the midst of an IMF program with ambitious targets for increasing revenue,” he added. 

The IMF said in a statement that Sri Lanka has made “commendable progress” in implementing “difficult but much-needed reforms.”

 “These efforts are bearing fruit as the economy is showing tentative signs of stabilization,” the statement said.

https://www.dw.com/en/can-sri-lanka-pull-itself-out-of-economic-crisis/a-67080167

Courtesy CNA

NEW YORK : A group of private holders of Sri Lanka’s eurobonds proposed in a debt overhaul plan to the government the issuance of 10 bonds linked with the country’s macroeconomic health that will mature between 2027 and 2036.

Holders choosing the macro-linked bonds would take a haircut of 20 per cent on the principal, according to the proposal.

Reuters reported on Thursday Sri Lanka’s private creditors had sent a new proposal on how to restructure $12 billion of overseas debt.

The proposal suggests coupons as a mix of cash and payment in kind, with cash coupons from 2028 paying between 8 per cent and 9.5 per cent, depending on the maturity.

The Sri Lankan government did not respond to a request for comment late on Friday.

The step-down option will be triggered if Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product (GDP) current prices for the 2026-2027 period is below $98.9 billion, when measured in 2028 by the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook.

The most recent reading, for 2022, is $74.85 billion.

Should the step-down option kick in, the coupons will be reduced by between 2.5 per centage points and 6 per centage points, depending on the severity of the shortfall, the proposal suggested.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The HIP RORO team

Vehicles awaiting transhipment at the RORO yard

• Construction of new yard for transshipment vehicles nearing completion and is expected to become operational by 2024

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) has achieved a milestone by handling over half a million transshipment units by September, exceeding the port’s previous year’s roll-on/roll-off (RORO) figures.

As the global economy recovers gradually, we continue to aggressively market our location and services.  As a result, RORO transshipment is steadily increasing at HIP and we have been able to better our volumes year-on-year,” HIPG COO Tissa Wickremasinghe said.

Last year, HIP hit the 500,000-transshipment unit mark in November, closing 2022 with a total volume of 558,200 local and transshipment cargo handled, whereas this year the port was able to achieve the milestone within the third quarter of 2023, setting a new milestone.  

The port’s RORO business has seen significant growth in the past 5 years and it is now an attractive destination for transshipment of vehicles. 

This is mainly because we are geared to meet the high quality, efficiency and reliability shipping lines demand. HIP’s services and capacity for transshipment meet ‘best in the world’ standards, which along with our strategic location, makes the port a desirable destination for RORO movement. Apart from being the most convenient transshipment port for both the pacific and Indian oceans, our operations are top notch,” HIPG General Manager Commercial & Marketing Lance Zuo stressed.

So far this year, the port has managed 218 ship calls involving 8 shipping lines, reaching its peak with 75,608 moves in September, attributed to 32 RORO vessel calls.

The month of September also recorded the highest ever RORO loading volume of 39,200 moves.  The 500,000 milestone was completed with transshipment operations carried out for MV. Sunlight Ace of MOL and MV. Soo Shin of Glovis which brought volumes of 2,391 moves and 3, 407 moves respectively. 
 

We give top priority to standard operational procedures and strictly maintain safe direction during RORO operations. This was clearly proven in the way our expert operations team handled vessels such as Sunlight Ace and Soo Shin, during the recent extreme weather conditions,” Wickremasinghe said.

Compared to 2022, the port has seen a 25 percent increase in RORO volumes.  Apart from dedication and hard work, the high growth in volumes is attributed to HIP’s investment in new equipment that has helped the port meet international standards, consolidating its position as a leading transshipment port for RORO. 

Construction of the new yard for transshipment vehicles is also nearing completion and is expected to become wholly operational by 2024.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Quips it would be easier for President Biden to talk to Hamas than the Congress Leadership

President Ranil Wickremesinghe cautioned if Gaza was destroyed it would have a rippling effect from Turkey to the Philippines and governments could lose control.

Destroying Hamas is one thing. They can take military action against it. But what is the reaction, if you go and destroy Gaza, the whole situation will change in 24 hours. There is nothing, the governments here can control. From here all the way to Indonesia and elsewhere, governments will lose control of the situation…. If you go into Gaza, the whole Middle East will be on fire that will affect all of us here. Turkey on one end up to the Philippines, on the other side ,it will affect central Asia,” President Wickremesinghe said addressing the Galle Dialogue 2023 Indian Ocean defense conference on Wednesday.  

Excerpts: What is the new emerging order, while I was free last week, I jotted down some points to talk about the emerging order. Yesterday, I tore it up. What has happened in between has made what I was going to say redundant. But, it will affect what is going to happen now after the Hamas attack on Israel. You could see politics taking its place. Israel has already formed a unity government. Destroying Hamas is one thing. They can take military action against it. But what is the reaction, if you go and destroy Gaza, the whole situation will change in 24 hours. There is nothing, the governments here can control. From here all the way to Indonesia and elsewhere, governments will lose control of the situation.

The whole picture of what I said will change. I would not anyway been involved in those negotiations. What do you do? On one hand, the unity government in Israel wants to strike back. If you go into Gaza, the whole Middle East will be on fire that will affect all of us here. Turkey on one end up to Philippines on the other side. It will, affect central Asia. The next few days will decide what the options are. I wouldn’t like to be in President Biden’s shoes. How does he handle it this way? Bad enough, with allies on both sides. How do you handle it domestically when you have to think of the Jewish vote block at the next election and his difficulty of speaking to congress? It may be easy for him to speak to Hamas than to speak to congress leadership. That is how delicate it is. On his decisions will depend what happens. All what you said today can change tomorrow. Let’s hope wise leadership prevails.  We all see lots of back-door diplomacy is going on. If all that will succeed somehow we can hold the situation. Otherwise, will have to meet again to decide what the new order that has emerged.”

Courtesy Ceylon Today

First of all, I would like to thank our Sri Lankan friends for the excellent arrangement of today’s meeting.

We are confident that the tendency to consolidate cooperation between the practice-oriented multipolar platforms like IORA should become the dominant trend.

We consider the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Eurasian Economic Union as natural associates of the IORA. And in the South East Asia – ASEAN. The idea to establish contacts with IORA was successfully implemented at the events of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta this September with IORA Bangladesh Chairman and the General Secretary Salman Al Farisi being invited.

Even under artificially created limitations for our country, Russia is trying to search opportunities to support the countries of the region. The participants of the Russia – Africa Summit that took place in Saint Petersburg this July with many IORA member countries present could feel it. President Vladimir Putin highlighted a clear plan of actions aimed at rendering assistance to the Continent’s countries in need. We have such resources. The forecast gross grain yield of 2023 is 135 million of tons including 90 million tons of wheat.

Joining the IORA family as a dialogue partner in 2021 Russia connected up at once the events on sectoral interaction. We are aimed at strengthening cooperation with IORA in close partnership with South Africa that as far as we know will assume coordination with Russia.

We pay special attention to such crucial issues for IORA as the development of the blue economy. Around 20 countries attended the topic seminar that we organised this June. Its practical value was exchange of experience, of the world best practice and instruments of sustainable use of ocean resources with elaboration of useful recommendations for member countries.

We were glad to see the representatives of the IORA member countries at the large-scale international VII Global Fishery Forum that was held in Saint Petersburg this September. The Seafood Expo took place in the framework of the Forum. Around 18 thousand of participants from 75 countries attended the events.

Russian ministries and research institutes connect readily the IORA activities on other cooperation tracks being guided by the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.

We intend to further consolidate humanitarian ties. We invite the Ministers of culture and the prominent cultural dignitaries of the Indian ocean countries to take part in the Forum of United Cultures Forum in Saint Petersburg that will be held this November. In March 2024 we hope to see the youth from your countries at the World Youth Festival in Sochi – one of the largest events of the international level.

The IORA may count on Russia in search for resolution of global food and energy problems.

By Prof. Rasheen Bappu Courtesy Ceylon Today

By Ceylon Today

Indo-Canadian relations were disrupted after Canada alleged that Indian intelligence assassinated a Sikh terrorist in Canada. Prof. Rohan Gunaratna wrote the foreword to Stewart Bell’s ‘Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World.’ India’s largest-selling English news magazine Weekly interviewed Prof. Gunaratna on Canada offering sanctuary for terrorists. Contrary to what the Indian media expected, Prof. Gunaratna said Canada and India should start to work together to deny sanctuary to terrorists and their supporters.

As a specialist in global security affairs, Prof. Rohan Gunaratna believes that international security and intelligence services should shift from counter-terrorism cooperation to collaboration. The key is to build common databases, exchange personnel, conduct joint training and operations….” says Gunaratna, who has authored more than 30 Books, including Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community (2023). At a time when India and Canada are at loggerheads over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, leader of the Khalistan Tiger Force, his advice for countries is to resolve their differences behind the scenes, rather than fight.

Excerpts:

Q: How has Canada earned the tag of an immigrant country?

A. Canada is the world’s most favoured country for migrants…. Immigrants compensate for the labour shortage, an ageing population and a declining birth rate. They make up more than one-fifth of the Canadian population―more than 8 million of the 36 million Canadians―and non-permanent residents add almost another million. As per the 2021 census, more than half (4.3 million) had migrated from Asia, with India, the Philippines and China leading the way. About two million migrated from Europe, a million from North and South America and more than eight lakhs from Africa (led by Morocco, Nigeria and Algeria). The recent immigrant population of over 1.3 million people shows a trend towards more immigrants of Asian and African descent. The immigration from the Americas, Europe and Oceania is on the decline.

Q: There are concerns over inimical elements from various countries entering Canada over the years.

A. Canada hosts people from around the world, including from conflict regions. The migrants mostly live in ethnic and religious enclaves. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has steadfastly expanded immigration, which has enhanced his popularity and electability. Under Trudeau, immigration has increased to four lakh new residents per year, and Canada plans to welcome five lakh permanent residents each year by 2025. About 40,000 asylum seekers entered Canada through irregular border crossings from the US alone in 2022. Like all governments, Canada is screening all the applicants. However, due to the sheer volume of applicants, a few thousand former terrorists and criminals have infiltrated. The Canadian intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to work in close collaboration with foreign counterparts to prevent acts of terrorism and crime.

Q: What are Sri Lanka’s concerns over LTTE activities on Canadian soil?

A. The LTTE clandestinely raised funds in Canada and procured weapons from the US, Ukraine and North Korea, which were then used to bomb the Central Bank in Colombo in 1996. The bombing killed 91 people and injured 1,400 people…. It is not too late to trace and prosecute the masterminds and fundraisers, but Canada and Sri Lanka should work together on this case to send a clear message that terrorism will not be tolerated. The largest Sri Lankan population outside the island is in Canada. The Sri Lankan Tamil community migrated to Canada in three stages: before, during and after the war. Most migrants have become Canadian citizens and they lead respectable lives. A few hundred are supporting the LTTE in an attempt to revive the group. Over the years, the Sri Lankan government has been working closely with Canada. Despite some issues, it is vital for Colombo and Ottawa to maintain cordial relations.

Q: The 9/11 terror attack was a wake-up call for the United States. Do you think all countries need to recognise terrorism as a global threat?

A. The 9/11 attack by Al-Qaeda on US soil demonstrated that terrorists can operate across borders and strike their enemies at will. The US mounted operations overseas to find, fix and finish their enemies. After 9/11, the US also created a new architecture to protect its homeland. Otherwise, the US would have suffered gravely. For instance, the Department of Homeland Security spent billions of dollars to create fusion centres and shared intelligence [with other countries]. Unless governments learn and adapt to the new and emerging threats, their countries will continue to suffer.

Q: What is the way forward?

A. With the global reach of threat groups increasing, international security and intelligence services should shift from counter-terrorism cooperation to collaboration. The key is to build common databases, exchange personnel, conduct joint training and operations, and share information, resources, experience and expertise. Rather than fight, they should resolve their differences behind the scenes.

(The Weekly)

By Namrata Biji Ahuja

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to leave for China tomorrow (Oct. 14) on an official visit.

During his stay, Wickremesinghe will attend a conference in Beijing, taking place on October 17 and 18, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

He is also slated to call on Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for bilateral discussions, Ada Derana learns.

Courtesy Adaderana

he Supreme Court has determined that the decision of ‘Ape Jana Bala Pakshaya’ (Our Power of People Party or OPPP) to expel Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero from the party is not legally valid.

The verdict was delivered when the petition filed by Rathana Thero was taken up before Supreme Court Justices Buwaneka Aluvihare, Janak de Silva and Murdu Fernando today.

Disciplinary committee of the political party had announced the decision to revoke Rathana Thero’s party membership, by way of a letter dated October 15, 2021.

The petitioner’s legal counsel told the court that the OPPP’s disciplinary committee is not authorized to take disciplinary action against his client as per an agreement he had entered into with the OPPP as the head of the organization called ‘Vijaya Dharani Jathika Sabawa’.

After taking into account the submissions presented before the court, the judge bench determined that the OPPP’s decision to oust Rathana Thero from the political party was unlawful, thus nullifying the OPPP’s move.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara. Mahanuwara

The Log standing friendship between Bharath and Sri Lanka

We, as Sri Lankans whole hardheartedly, welcome the rise of Bharath Dhesh in 2014 without any reservation. Because Bharath is the fountain of our present unique Sinhala Buddhist civilization. Vijaya the founder father of the Sinhala race came from North Bharatha in 543 BC and the living core of our extant civilization that is Buddhism also was introduced in 307 BC to this country by the North Bharatha.  We also join hands with her in her battle against the colonial repression and oppression. But it is high time, that she stops its ‘blow hot and cold policy” towards this country and also trying to play the policeman role in the region.  She has no right to tell us as to with whom we could have diplomatic or any other relationship like economic, cultural or any other relation with any country she does not like. The best example is our relationship with China. For example, what right on earth does India has to tell us that we should not give entry permission to a Chinese Ship either to one of our ports or our maritime territory as she has done recently.

To begin with India should accept that we are equals as free, independent and sovereign nations with her even though different in size (1/60^th). I It is rue we have inherited a lot from mother Bharath from time immemorial. The main and the most precious thing being Buddhism, that 25 centuries old umbilical code between our two countries which marked the dawn of a new and unique Sinhala Buddhist civilization on this Island giving unique identity and heritage to this nation, that is called Sri Lanka. Its central location on this planet, as one Bharatha Purana grantha had asserted, “Bhoo madyayei  ankiiyathithi lanka which means it was called Lanka as it was located at the centre of the earth. 

It was Sri Lanka that provided a ready and safe and eternal home for original Buddhism on earth, permanently, when it disappeared from its land of Birth, Bharath. In this backdrop Bharath should   be grateful to Sri Lanka for protecting that greatest world religion found by one of its greatest sons, the greatest human being born on this earth in the whole world for that matter, in its purest form by Sri Lanka, having documented it in books for the first time and carved on rocks and permanently injected in to the minds and hearts of the Sinhala people from the pre-Christian times, who had been the prime custodians of this great religion.  On our part, as a nation, we are ever grateful to emperor Asoka another great son of Bharath for introducing Buddhism to this country. The Sinhala nation has protected this sacred doctrine and preserved it in its purest form in spite of repeated vandalism committed by Indias own South Indian people for centuries, starting from pre-Christian time reaching the climax in the 12th century AD by the Maga invasion, which completely destroyed all what had been achieved by the Sinhala Buddhists from the 6th C BC up to the 12th Century AD. In spite of all these tragedies the valiant and pious Sinhala Kings together with their subjects have preserved the vestiges of that great and unique Sinhala Buddhist civilization on earth for the world to admire. At the same time, Bharath should also be ever grateful to the Sinhala people in this country for fostering, preserving and protecting the message of the Budda, the greatest human being the world had ever produced anywhere on earth.

Under this backdrop we expect a resurgent Bharath to play the role of that great Emperor Asoka another son of Bhaaratha, the greatest Emperor the world had ever produced as H.G. Wells has once said. In this, backdrop we also expect the new NaMo Bharath that is going to be born soon to put an end to its ‘Blow hot and cold” policy not only towards Sri Lanka but also towards all its neighbors including Pakistan and treat all of them as equals. But it Is unfortunate that at present India has antagonized practically everybody around One good example is the breakdown of the SARC due to India’s boycotting.

We, As Sri Lankans are ever prepared to embrace Bharath as our elder brother, so long as it does not hurt us and try to change our identity as a Sinhala Buddhist nation by interfering with tour domestic politics at the instigation by the Sri Lankan Tamils. The relationship between our two countries should be one of equals as two distinct nations. Mutual respect should be underscored and it should be reciprocal. Also, she should clearly recognize that we are a separate sovereign country and not a part of India as they think.

The new nation that is going to be born as Bharath in 2024, at least, we hope will begin with a new and pragmatic approach towards its neighbors in a world of equals. We are also concerned about our independence and security as much as India is, about her own security and independence. Though small in size our Geo-strategic position, as an Island nation situated right at the center of the Indian Ocean where all the international maritime and air traffic meet and moves across is even more important than any other place in the whole world particularly in the emerging new world order as the busiest and the richest global hub on earth. We are also more open to the Indian Ocean than any other. We, as a free and sovereign nation we should have the right to decide on our own destiny to our own advantage as a nation without the interference of any other country in our internal matters. We extend our warm hands to everybody in the name of humanity.

The ugly bone of contention between Bharath and this country

The current ugly bone of contention between Bharath and this country is the Tamil question. It is their own creation mainly ignited by Tamilnadu in South India and sometimes the colonial West who wants to create regional instability. The South Indian Animosity towards Sri Lanka is chronic as we know. It may be that they find it difficult to change as it is deeply ingrained in their system coming down from the 2nd century BC. I think India should understand this historical reality before it takes wrong decisions and become unpopular in the region just to pacify the South Indian electorate for local political interests.

The Tamil question in this country it is twofold. The first is the traditional Tamil people who had been here for ages in the coastal areas in the north and parts of the East, with a component of those Malabar people who were brought here by the Dutch and British to work on their projects after late 17^th century. The second category is those who were brought here by the British after 1840 as their labour force to work on the newly opened up Tea plantations on the central hills. These lands were owned by the native Sinhalese, until the British illegally grabbed them after 1840.. They were taken over by the British by force under draconian laws with no compensation either, displacing all the Kandyan Sinhalese en-masse, having killed in tens of thousands, who had been the owners of those lands from the time human civilization began on this land. They were made eternal destitute on their own motherland.

The Tamil labour were British citizens at the time of the British leaving the shores of this Island in 1948 who were left high and dry as an army of Stateless labour gang.  Unfortunately, we did not have a local native leader who had the brain to ask the British to hand over our land that was taken over by them without any encumbrance by moving these laborers back to their motherland in South India from where they were brought. The first batch of these Indian laborers were brought by the British in 1838. They labored for the British as slaves to enrich the British empire. This process continued up to 1948. It was the British planters and people like Jeevan’s Thondaman’s grandfather who came in 1924 (11 years then) and his great grandfather Karuppiah who came in 1873 (13 years then) when families were fleeing in batches the villages in Madras in search of food and employment” to neighboring foreign lands. It was the British and the Indian labourers who really had benefitted from this human trafficking and certainly not this country as claimed by their present-day leaders and many others like the mad vote hungry unpatriotic politicians and trouble shooters the world over.

As such it is a big myth firstly, to say that these people have been here continuously for 200 years even by Presidents and Prime Ministers of this country, without verifying the authenticity of such data, and secondly, to say that they have heavily contributed to the economy of this country. In fact, this labor force had been an eternal liability to this country and the natives, right from the beginning as they were heavily subsidized by the British with money earned here to keep them here to increase their profits. The majority came here in search of food and employment and whatever they saved was repatriated annually to India, meanwhile people like Thodaman bought properties here as well as in India with the money earned from exports of Ceylon Tea and they amazed wealth in both countries.

The Tamil population living in this country, both the traditional and those imported by the British to work on their new plantations as coolies should never be a bone of contention between the two countries because by now, they are citizens of this land. India should not treat them as Indians any more. They are our people. As such India should not interfere or get involved in matters pertaining to them at least in future. Nor should India entertain their grievances either as it continues to do at the moment. This tantamount to Indian interference with Str Lankas internal matters. These Tamils should be told to settle their problems with the Sri Lankan government as they belong to Sri Lanka and not to India any longer.   What India should do is ask the Tamil community to accept this county as their mother land and get integrated with the Sinhala natives as it had happened in the past and live happily as brothers and sisters without making unnecessary claims and without waging war to claim some one else’s land. If there are any who don’t want to do that and if they want to continue to treat India as their motherland, then they have no legal or moral right to subsist on the resources of the Island. It is high time that therefore India advises them to forget about the Vadukkodei declaration or the so-called Thimpu principles together with their dream Eelam in the north and east or Malayha on the hills of this country and learn to live with the native Sinhala people, who are the sons of the soil who found the civilization on this land millennia ago, fostered and protected it from all foreign invasions and live cordially so that reconciliation will automatically come them. If any one feels shy to so then there is no alternative but for them to go back to their original and true motherland in South India. Everyone should concede to that historical fact without any debate. Once that is done, this festering historical wound will be permanently cured.

The same formula applies to the plantation sector Tamils as well. If they also disagree then India should advise them to ask UK to carve out a part of the British Islands as they were brought here from India by them and they were British citizens when they were left behind in a foreign country high and dry as destitute when the British left this Island in 1948. In the alternative the best thing for India to do is to take them back as an additional headache of India if she is so genuinely concerned about their wellbeing, without trying to create a Tamil State called Malayaha, right on the heartland of this Island nation that belongs to the Sinhala nation as it had been so from the inception of history.

Coming back to the fishing problem persisting in the Manar bay why can’t India and Sri Lanka enter in to an agreement that the citizens of both countries should strictly abide by the internationally accepted condition that they should engage in fishing only within their territorial waters.

India also should desist from encouraging separatism and should stop dictating to us to do this and that. For example, the 13th A and their settlement policies.  This problem will persist as along as that agreement is inked and implemented to its letter thereafter.  The funniest thing is now that the Tamilnadu politicians want the Kachchathive Island also back as a part of the Indian subcontinent, that is 60 times the size of this tiny Island, as if its vast territory is not enough for them. Settling internal problems in India within its territory is their business, without making neighbors scape goats. On the other hand, asserting our position and protecting our independence is the bounden duty of our leaders. To quote from their own sources, even in Kautilya’s list of the three main duties of the State, the first is Rakka, that is the protection of the State against external invasion. We have no bone of contention with their right to protects its own territory. But we strongly object and protest against their well calculated intervention in our domestic affairs with a view to strengthen the pro Indian Tamil community in Sri Lanka and systematically weaken the native Sinhalese in the same way the British did for 133 years against the native Sinhalese. This well-planned intrigue is well displayed even when we look at the following well planned  8 agreements signed between the two countries.

1Modernisation of 27 schools in the Northern Province,

2 Housing projects in Mannar and Anuradhapura, and

3 Improvements to the Hatton Thondaman Vocational Training Centre and Pussellawa Saraswati Central College. Additionally, a

4Mmulti-ethnic trilingual school is slated for construction in Polonnaruwa,

5 Establishment of 2,889 rainwater harvesting projects in the Jaffna region.

6 Efforts to promote vegetable cultivation in Dambulla and the construction of greenhouse facilities with a capacity of 5,000 tons for fruit preservation are also on the agenda.

7.A new surgical unit for the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital will be swiftly built to boost the healthcare sector.

8.In addition, a landmark agreement was reached involving the Indian National Dairy Development Board, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation of India (Amul), and the Cargills (Ceylon) PLC.

Here you see out of a total of 8 projects 7 are designed to improve the Tamil community and their area. One can ask what about the Multi-ethnic trilingual school is slated for construction in Polonnaruwa Yes you can argue the way that suits you best. But my question is why a Multi-ethnic trilingual school in Polonnaruwa unless you have a subversive agenda up your sleeves, to facilitate the annexation of Polonnaruwa district to the Eastern Province in future.

Foreign fundings are always welcome. But what you do with that money and where you invest it is a matter that has to be decided by this country after evaluations recommended by local experts in the relevant fields followed by Cabinet deliberations and also approval by parliament perhaps.

But in this case, it is very clear that these project locations have been pre-decided by India with a long term subversive pro-Indian agenda. Even the selection of the participants proves this argument. Probably India has given a dead rope to the President who is eying at the next election.

I wonder  whether this list of agreements is also a part of the Rajiv -JR Accord of July 1987?

RANJITH SOYSA

Your Excellency the President Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Hon Dinesh Gunawardane- Prime Minister,
Hon Mahinda Rajapaksa – the Former President,

IMF RECIPE AND SRI LANKA’S FUNDS PARKED ABROAD.

All of you are shouldering the unenviable task of attending to the stabilization of the economy and we constantly hear of structural readjustment of the of the debt and the need

 to increase the tax receipts etc, We, hear that more revenue is needed to meet the deficit. The Treasury Secretary said that ” the Government revenue has dipped from 22% to 8% 

against the GDP while State expenses have gone up to 19%. He said, most of the government revenue must be reinvested to keep SOE’s that are in Red and pay public servants who are 

employed in most of them. By divesting some of these SOE’s Sri Lanka can save huge amounts of ‘money’ that are channelled towards the upkeep of SOEs and they could be used for

 other infrastructure projects and provide better facilities for health education and other key areas.”

While we are attempting to sell even strategically important SOE’s such as Telecom, the Ports etc to solve the acute issue of deficit, the Minister of Justice provided a solution which 

if pursued. he said that “it will be possible to settle all debts which Sri Lanka owes to other nations” He mentioned the necessity of compelling the VIPs who have parked abroad 

US $ 56 billion, including US $ 9 billion in 2023!

An average Sri Lankan who is striving hard to make the ends meet and fighting heavy odds to keep the head above the water is expecting an answer from you why the

export earnings and other remittances legally due to the country are allowed to be parked or invested overseas by a few business institutions and persons.

As a matter of extreme urgency, legislation should be approved or judiciary should be activated to give firm notice to the errant organizations and the personnel to bring back to the 

country what is due, within a reasonable period.

While perusing rational solutions to create a balanced economy the consumption of luxury and semi luxury goods must be restricted while supporting local production and

Import substitution. The nation cannot forget that nearly 12.5% of its population is living in extreme poverty. Any further burden on this segment of the population by way of increased 

cost of essential goods and services will only create social upheaval. The profit making and strategic Government managed organizations should not be sold as it is like selling the

 family silver forcing the nation to keep on begging forever rather than utilizing these resources for effective national development, 

I only hope that the pursuing ones responsible for diverting the foreign funds of Sri Lanka even as an essential measure will not clash with the IMF model which insists on.

stability” at any cost.

RANJITH SOYSA

Prof. Hudson McLean

Dhammika Perera DP Education is a Noble Patriotic Project to Help Move the Sri Lankan to a Better Tomorrow. 

One man cannot move mountains and needs help!

The education of youth to the IT World is Excellent.

Europe, USA, and Australia need over 100,000 Nurses, with a pay of over USD 2000/month. 

Part of the wage could be repatriated to Sri Lanka.

Better than sending Domestic Helpers to the Middle East for a pittance and daily sex attacks!

The Diplomats in Embassies do not want to get their fingers burnt because they are ignorant and oblivious to the way forward.

Dhammika Perera & DP Education might consider two of his trusted staff to look at opportunities to feed his protegees. 

Are there capable men & women who can bring home the “Bacon”?

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Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon made a visit to Imaduwa to inspect the landslide site today morning (Oct 12). He was accompanied by Army Commander Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage and several senior army officers.

An earth slip had occurred last night on a section of the Southern Expressway between Pinnaduwa and Imaduwa causing obstruction to vehicular movement along the Southern Expressway.

State Minister Tennakoon while inspecting the damages caused by the earth slip gave necessary instructions to Army personnel to obtain expert opinion of National Building Research Organization (NBRO) and Road Development Authority (RDA) officials and take immediate action to clear the highway and enable vehicular movement as the region is experiencing continuous torrential rains and many areas are flooded causing hindrance to the day to day lives of people and widespread damages to property.

The State Minister had also instructed disaster management officials to take all necessary measures to provide relief to affected communities due to the adverse present weather conditions being experienced in the country.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය 

 වෙළෙඳ සහ ආයෝජන සහයෝගීතාව ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීම සඳහා එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යය සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ ආර්ථික කවුන්සිලයක් පිහිටුවීමට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා යෝජනා කරයි.
එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ආර්ථික හා වෙළෙඳ කටයුතු පිළිබඳ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අහමඩ් බින් අලි සයේග්( Ahmed bin Ali Sayegh) මහතා 2023.10.11 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී හමුවූ අවස්ථාවේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මෙම යෝජනාව ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබීය.
වෙළෙඳ, බලශක්ති, සත්කාරක සහ සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රවල මෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති ව්‍යාපෘතිවල ආයෝජන ඉහළ නැංවීම, ආර්ථික සබඳතා වර්ධනය කිරීම,  ආර්ථික හවුල්කාරිත්ව ගිවිසුම අවසන් කිරීම සඳහා නිල සාකච්ඡා ඉක්මනින් ආරම්භ කිරීමට එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා එකඟ විය.
අපනයනය සඳහා ආහාර බෝග නිෂ්පාදනයට නව ආර්ථික කලාප පිහිටුවා ඇති බැවින් කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය වැනි නව ක්ෂේත්‍රවල ආයෝජනය කිරීමට එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයට දැන් අවස්ථාව ඇති බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මෙහිදී පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.
සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සඳහා මෙන්ම ලක්ෂ තුනකට ආසන්න ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ශ්‍රමිකයින්ට රැකියා ලබාදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයට ලබාදුන් සහයෝගය පිළිබඳව ඔහු ස්තුතිය පළ කළ අතර විදේශගත ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ශ්‍රමිකයින් දෙරටේම ආර්ථිකයන්ට සම්පතක් බව එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා සඳහන් කළේය.
එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ දූත පිරිසට තානාපති Khalid Naser Al-Ameri, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ Sultan Al Mansoori සහ ආර්ථික හා වාණිජ කටයුතු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා Ghada Al Nabulsi ද ඇතුළත් විය.
මෙම හමුවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන, රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් රංජිත් අශෝක සහ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම් හර්ෂ විජේවර්ධන යන මහත්වරු ද එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය 

Dinamina

මුලතිව් හිටපු දිසා විනිසුරු සහ මහේස්ත්‍රාත් ටී. සරවනරාජා මහතාට කිසිදු ජීවිත තර්ජනයක් හෝ වෙනත් තර්ජනයක් නොතිබූ බවත් අවම තරමින් සිය බිරියටත් නොදන්වා ඔහු විදේශගත වී ඇත්තේ පූර්ව සැලසුමකට බවත් මේ වන විට සිදු කර ඇති විමර්ශනවලින් තහවුරු වී ඇතැයි අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ඩිජිටල් වෝහාරික අංශය රජයට ඉදිරිපත් කළ වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් වේ. විනිසුරුවරයා සැප්තැම්බර් 25 දින ඉන්දියාවට යාමට විදේශ නිවාඩු ඉල්ලුම් කර එය අනුමතව තිබියදී මෙසේ පූර්ව සැලසුමකට අනුව සැප්තැම්බර් 24 වැනි දින විදේශ ගත වීම කිසියම් සංවිධානාත්මක පිරිසකගේ සැලසුමක්ද යන්න පිළිබඳව විමර්ශන සිදු කරමින් පවතින බවත් එම වාර්තාව සඳහන් කරයි.

මුලතිව් මහේස්ත්‍රාත් ටී. සරවනරාජා මහතා මරණ තර්ජන ඇති බව කියමින් ඉල්ලා අස්වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පූර්ණ පරීක්ෂණයක් කරන ලෙස ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා උපදෙස් ලබා දී තිබිණි.

ඒ අනුව සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමර්ශනයක් පවත්වන ලෙස මහජන ආරක්ෂක ඇමැති ටිරාන් අලස් මහතා පොලිස්පතිවරයාට කළ නියෝගය අනුව මෙම විමර්ශනය පැවැත්විණි

තමන්ට තර්ජනයක් ඇති බවට මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා මීට පෙර කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක පොලිසියට හෝ අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිසමට පැමිණිලි කර නොතිබුණු අතර සැප්තැම්බර් 23 දා තම අස්වීමේ ලිපිය අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිසම වෙත යොමු කර මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා ඉකුත් 24දා විදේශගතව තිබිණි.

මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා වග උත්තරකරුවකු කරමින් අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ නඩුවක් ද පැවතිණි.

විනිසුරුවරයාගේ බිරිය, මුලතිව් අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත් ඩී.ප්‍රදීපන්, මුලතිව් කොට්ඨාසය භාර ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරි ඩී.යූ.පී. අමරතුංග, මුලතිව් වැඩබලන මූලස්ථාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක ඩබ්ලිව්. ඒ. ජී.එච්. එන්.කේ. තිලකරත්න, දිසා විනිසුරුවරයාගේ පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරී පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් කේ.එස්. ප්‍රේමන්, පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරියා ලෙස කටයුතු කළ පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් කේ. ශිවකාන්තන්, මුලතිව් අධිකරණය භාර පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් එම්. මුදිසන්, මුලතිව් පොලිසියේ පොලිස් කොස්තාපල්වරුන් වන සමරකෝන් සහ සඳරුවන්, මුලතිව් මහෙස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ රෙජිස්ට්‍රාර් බී. සරවනරාජ්, විනිසුරුවරයාගේ අධිකරණ ආරච්චි ලෙස කටයුතු කළ පී. සුචිකාන්, මුලතිව් මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ පිස්කල් එස්. ශිවකුමාර්, මුලතිව් අධිකරණයේ තෝල්කවරයා වන ජේ. ලින්ටන්රාජා මහත්වරුන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශ මෙම විමර්ශනයේදී සටහන් කර ගෙන ඇති අතර ඔවුන් සියලු දෙනාම පවසා ඇත්තේ මරණ තර්ජනයක් තිබුණු බවට විනිසුරු ටී. සරවනරාජා මහතා කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක තමන්ට පවසා නොමැති බවය.

එම වාර්තාවට අනුව මුලතිව් හිටපු දිසා විනිසුරු ටී. සරවනරාජා මහතා 2021 වසරේ අප්‍රේල් 05 දා මුලතිව් මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා ලෙස පත්ව ඇති අතර මුලතිව් පොලිස් ස්ථානය විසින් සියලු ආරක්ෂාව ඔහු වෙත සලසා දී තිබේ. කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව හෝ ජීවිත තර්ජනයක් පිළිබඳව ගැටලුවක් උද්ගත වී නොමැත.

වාර්තාවට අනුව විනිසුරුවරයා සැප්තැම්බර් 24 වන දින ඩුබායි බලා පිටත්ව ගොස් ඇති බව විමර්ශනයේදී හෙළි වී ඇත. ඒ සඳහා එයාර් ඇරබියා ගුවන් සේවයෙන් ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් කුරුණෑගල අලෙවි නියෝජිතයකුගෙන් මිලදී ගෙන ඇති අතර, ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන සියලු කටයුතු අමෙරිකානු දුරකතන අංකයක් මඟින් සිදු කර තිබේ. එම දුරකතන අංකය ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවුණොත් නැවත ඇමතීම සඳහා කෙන්යානු දුරකතන අංකයක් ටිකට් පත් අලෙවි නියෝජිතවරයාට ලබා දී ඇත. ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් සඳහා ගෙවීම කල්මුණේ ප්‍රදේශයෙන් සිදු කර ඇත. ටිකට් පත ලබා ගෙන ඇත්තේ සාජා, නයිරෝබි, දිල්ලි හරහා ඔක්තෝබර් 12 දින යළි මෙරටට පැමිණීමටය. ගුවන් සමාගමෙන් ලබා ගත් තොරතුරු අනුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා සාජාවලින් පසුව නයිරෝබි දක්වා යාමට මෙතෙක් ගුවන් ටිකට් පත භාවිත කර නොමැති බව තහවුරු වී තිබේ.

මේ කරුණු අනුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයාගේ විදේශගත වීම පූර්ව සූදානමකින් සිදු කර ඇති බවට අනාවරණය වී තිබේ. ඔහු දිවයිනෙන් බැහැර යාමේ ලේඛනයේ ගමනාන්තය ලෙස නයිරෝබි නගරය සඳහන් කර ඇත. සේවයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස් වී තිබියදී රාජකාරි ගුවන් බලපත්‍රය භාවිත කිරීම ගැටලුවකි.

මුලතිව් කොට්ඨාසය භාර ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරි ඩී.යූ.පී. අමරතුංග මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ පසුගිය ජනවාරි මස සිට තමා රාජකාරිය තුළ සහ පුද්ගලිකව ළඟින් ඇසුරු කළ බවත් කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක ආරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගැටලු පවතින බව සඳහන් කර නොමැති බවත්ය. අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදීම විනිසුරුවරයාගේ ඉල්ලීම පරිදි පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂාවට සහ නිවසේ ආරක්ෂාවට යෙදවූ බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

මුලතිව් වැඩබලන මූලස්ථාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක ඩබ්ලිව්.ඒ.ජී.එච්.එන්.කේ. තිලකරත්න මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයාගේ පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා පැති අවි සහිතව නිලධාරීන් දෙදෙනකු ද නිල නිවසේ ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා පැය 12 සේවා මුර ඇතුළත් වන ලෙස නිලධාරීන් දෙදෙනා බැගින් දිනකට නිලධාරින් 04ක් සේවයට යෙදවූ බවය. කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක දිසා විනිසුරුවරයා සිය ආරක්ෂාව ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවට තමා හෝ මූලස්ථාන පොලිසියේ වෙනත් කිසිදු නිලධාරියකු වෙත පැමිණිලි කර නොතිබූ බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

දිසා විනිසුරුවරයාගේ පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරී පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් කේ.එස්. ප්‍රේමන් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ ආරක්ෂාව ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බව හා ජීවිත තර්ජනයක් පවතින බවට විනිසුරුවරයා තමා වෙත කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක සඳහන් කර නොමැති බවත්ය. දිසා විනිසුරුවරයා විදේශගත වීමට සතියකට පෙර ඔහුගේ කාරය විකුණූ බවත් සැප්තැම්බර් 23 දින විදේශගත වූ බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

දිසා විනිසුරුවරයාගේ පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරියා ලෙස කටයුතු කළ පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් කේ. ශිවකාන්තන් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් සිය ආරක්ෂාව ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බව හෝ ජීවිත තර්ජන පවතින බවට කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක විනිසුරුවරයා තමාට පවසා නොමැති බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

මුලතිව් අධිකරණය භාර පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් එම්. මුදිසන් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් විනිසුරුවරයාගේ ආරක්ෂාව ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බව සහ ජීවිත තර්ජන පවතින බවට කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක සඳහන් කර නොමැති බවත් රාජකාරීමය වශයෙන් විනිසුරුවරයාගේ බැහැරට යෑම් සඳහා පැති අවියක් සහිතව තමා සහභාගි වන බවද එවැනි අවස්ථාවල ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව ගැටලු ඇති වී නොමැති බවත් සඳහන් කර ඇත.

මුලතිව් පොලිසියේ පොලිස් කොස්තාපල්වරුන් වන සමරකෝන් සහ සඳරුවන් මහත්වරුන් ප්‍රකාශ දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදීම විනිසුරුවරයාගේ නිල නිවෙසේ ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා තවත් නිලධාරියකු සමඟ අවි සහිතව රාජකාරියේ යෙදුණු බවත් ඒ කිසිම අවස්ථාවක විනිසුරුවරයාගේ ආරක්ෂාව ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බව තමන්ට ප්‍රකාශ කර නොමැති බවත්ය.

මුලතිව් අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත් ඩී. ප්‍රදීපන් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ ටී. සරවනරාජ් මහතා ප්‍රධාන මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා ලෙස තමා සමඟ සේවය කළ අතර ඔහුට ජීවිත අනතුරක් හෝ තර්ජනයක් ඇති බව කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක තමන්ට දැනුම් දී නැති බවත්ය. සැප්තැම්බර් 21 වන දින පුද්ගලික අවශ්‍යතාවක් සඳහා කොළඹ යන බව දැනුම් දී වැඩ බැලීම සඳහා තමා පත් කළත් විනිසුරුවරයා විදේශ ගත වී ඇති බව මාධ්‍ය මඟින් දැන ගත් බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

මුලතිව් මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ රෙජිස්ට්‍රාර් බී.සරවනරාජ් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ මෙම වසරේ ජනවාරි මස සිට තමා මුලතිව් අධිකරණයේ සේවය කළ අතර මරණ තර්ජනයක් ඇති බවට විනිසුරුවරයා තමන්ට කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක දැනුම් නොදුන් බවය. විනිසුරු සරවනරාජ් මහතා පසුගිය අගෝස්තු 30 වන දින ඉන්දියාවට යාම සඳහා ඉල්ලුම් පතක් යොමු කරමින් සැප්තැම්බර් 25 සිට ඔක්තෝම්බර් 01දා දක්වා විදේශ නිවාඩු ඉල්ලුම් කළ බවත් අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිසම් සභාව විදේශ නිවාඩු අනුමත කරමින් සැප්තැම්බර් 21දා ෆැක්ස් පණිවුඩයක් එවා තිබූ බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ. විනිසුරුවරයා සැප්තැම්බර් 20දා වරු නිවාඩුවක් සහ ඊට පසු දින රාජකාරී නිවාඩුවක් ලබා ගෙන තිබූ නමුත් තර්ජනයක් හෝ සේවයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස් වීමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් නිල හෝ පුද්ගලික මට්ටමින් තමා දැනුවත් නොකළ බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ. විනිසුරුවරයාගේ අධිකරණ ආරච්චි ලෙස කටයුතු කළ පී.සුචිකාන් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේද තමා දන්නා තරමින් විනිසුරුවරයාට ජීවිත හෝ මරණ තර්ජනයක් නොතිබූ බවත් එවැන්නක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔහු තමා සමඟ ප්‍රකාශ කර නොතිබූ බවත්ය.

මුලතිව් මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ පිස්කල් එස්. ශිවකුමාර් මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ විනිසුරුවරයාට ජීවිත හෝ මරණ තර්ජනයක් තිබූ බවක් තමා නොදන්නා බවත් විනිසුරුවරයා එවැන්නක් තමා සමඟ පවසා නොමැති බවත්ය. විනිසුරුවරයා සිය කාරය විකිණීමෙන් පසු පාව්ච්චි කළේ තමාගේ කාරය බවත් සැප්තැම්බර් 21 දින රාජකාරි අවශ්‍යතාවයක් සඳහා කොළඹ යාමට බව පවසා තමාගේ කාරය රැගෙන ගිය බවත් පසු දින පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරි ප්‍රේමන් මහතා කාරය ගෙනැවිත් දුන් බවත් විනිසුරුවරයා විදේශ ගත වීම පිළිබඳව කිසිවක් තමා නොදන්නා බවත් සඳහන් කර තිබේ. මුලතිව් අධිකරණයේ තෝල්කවරයා වන ජේ. ලින්ටන්රාජා මහතා ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙමින් විනිසුරුවරයා සමඟ අධිකරණ කටයුතුවලදී තමා ළඟින්ම රාජකාරී කළ බවත් මරණ තර්ජනයක් හෝ ජීවිත තර්ජනයක් පිළිබඳව විනිසුරුවරයා තමා සමඟ සඳහන් කර නොතිබූ බවත්ය. සිය සැමියා මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයකු වශයෙන් දැඩි මානසික ආතතියකින් පසු වූ බවත් ආරක්ෂාව ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවීම පිළිබඳව අවුරුදු දෙකකට පමණ පෙර ඔහු සඳහන් කළ බවත් දිසා විනිසුරුවරයාගේ බිරිය සඳහන් කර තිබේ. එසේ වුවත් මෑත කාලීනව එවැනි ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව ගැටලු ඇති බව තමා සමඟ පවසා නොමැති බවත් ඇය සඳහන් කර තිබේ. පසුගිය සැප්තැම්බර් 23 සැමියා උදෑසන 2 ට පමණ මුලතිව් යන බව පවසා පිටව ගියත් විදේශ ගත වීමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් තමා දැන නොසිටි බවත් ඇය පවසා තිබේ.

විනිසුරුවරයා සැප්තැම්බර් 24 වන දින ඩුබායි බලා පිටත්ව ගොස් ඇති බව විමර්ශනයේදී හෙළි වී ඇත. ඒ සඳහා එයාර් ඇරබියා ගුවන් සේවයෙන් ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් කුරුණෑගල අලෙවි නියෝජිතයකුගෙන් මිලදී ගෙන ඇති අතර, ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන සියලු කටයුතු අමෙරිකානු දුරකතන අංකයක් මඟින් සිදු කර ඇති අතර එම දුරකතන අංකය ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවුණොත් නැවත ඇමතීම සඳහා කෙන්යානු දුරකතන අංකයක් ටිකට් පත් අලෙවි නියෝජිතවරයාට ලබා දී ඇත. ගුවන් ටිකට් පත් සඳහා ගෙවීම කල්මුණේ ප්‍රදේශයෙන් සිදු කර ඇත. ටිකට් පත ලබා ගෙන ඇත්තේ සාජා , නයිරෝබි, දිල්ලි හරහා ඔක්තෝම්බර් 12 දින යළි මෙරටට පැමිණීමට ලබා ගෙන තිබේ.

මේ කරුණු අනුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයාගේ විදේශ ගත වීම පූර්ව සූදානමකින් සිදු කර ඇති බවට අනාවරණය වී තිබේ.

ශිරෝමි අබයසිංහ
– Dinamina

Courtesy The Daily News

Key milestone for PROMPT economic recovery

The government yesterday said that it has reached an agreement on the key principles and indicative terms of a debt treatment with the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank).

The Finance Ministry said that the agreement in principle covers around US$ 4.2 Bn of outstanding debt. The Ministry said that it constitutes a key step towards restoring Sri Lanka’s long-term debt sustainability and will pave the way to a prompt economic recovery.

In a press release, the Ministry said that the indicative terms agreed will provide the necessary fiscal space for Sri Lanka to implement its ambitious reform agenda.

The Sri Lankan Government commends the engagement and continuous support of China Exim Bank in reaching this agreement in principle, which demonstrates a mutual commitment in line with the goal/objective of restoring public debt sustainability consistent with the IMF-supported programme”, the release said.

Sri Lankan authorities are hopeful that this landmark achievement will provide an anchor to their ongoing engagement with the Official Creditor Committee and commercial creditors, including the bondholders.

It should also facilitate approval by the IMF Executive Board of the first review of the IMF-supported programme in the coming weeks, allowing for the next tranche of IMF financing of about US$ 334 million to be disbursed. Speaking in this regard, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana said it was a big step” for Sri Lanka as it reached this landmark agreement in principle” on debt treatment terms with the island’s largest single creditor.

We thank China Exim Bank for the support in resolving our country’s debt situation. This agreement constitutes a key milestone in Sri Lanka’s ongoing efforts to foster its economic recovery.”

Over the next few weeks, the Sri Lankan authorities and China Exim Bank will be actively working on formalizing and implementing the agreed parameters of the debt treatment, the press release said.

Courtesy CNA

LONDON : Sri Lanka’s private creditors have sent a proposal on how to restructure $12 billion of overseas debt, including a new type of bond designed to ease repayments in case of future economic pressure, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The country of 22 million people tipped into its first foreign debt default in May 2022, after a severe shortage of dollars triggered its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

The proposal sent on Oct. 2 provides a write-down, or haircut, on both capital and interest, added the sources who declined to be named because the talks are private.

It foresees issuance of regular sovereign bonds and also of so-called Macro Linked Bonds (MLBs), which will automatically lower coupon payments starting in 2027 if Sri Lanka fails to meet some of the economic targets linked to its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Representatives for the government did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson representing the creditor committee did not reply to a request for comment.

The overall proposal includes an option for creditors that combines MLB notes with a regular bond and a second option of regular bonds with a Value Recovery Instrument (VRI), one of the sources said.

The MLBs were included to ensure the new instruments would be index eligible, the sources said.

Bonds included in an index generally have more liquidity.

The proposal would be a crucial step for Sri Lanka which, under the terms of a $2.9 billion IMF bailout secured in March, has to provide assurances of debt restructuring from bondholders and key bilateral lenders including China, Japan and India.

It would be the first time such step-down bonds are being used in a debt restructuring, the sources added.

The trigger of the step-down payments on the MLBs would be linked to indicators such as Sri Lanka’s gross financing needs (GFN) to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio and debt to GDP ratio, one of the sources said.

If the GFN/GDP ratio rises “above 4.5 per cent in 2027, coupons will adjust downwards”, the source added.

The restructuring proposal is based on parameters from the debt sustainability analysis that the IMF produced when it agreed the programme for the battered economy.

A copy of the proposal was also sent to the IMF and the Paris club secretariat, one of the sources said.

Bondholders and the government remain in discussions through financial and legal advisers, so they are still not restricted to trade the country’s securities.