COLOMBO (News 1st); Adequate chemical fertilizer will be imported in time for the upcoming Yala season, says Minister of Agriculture, Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
Speaking to media, the Minister admitted that as there is not enough time to purchase chemical fertilizer and use it for the existing Maha season, the fertilizer necessary for the Yala season will be imported by upcoming April month.
Moreover, he stated that fertilizer companies have already placed orders and there will be no shortage of chemical fertilizers in the market by the coming Yala season.
Meanwhile, the Minister mentioned that the Paddy Marketing Board will purchase paddy from any farmer at Rs. 75 per kilo this season due to the complaints received regarding the reduction in production.
When inquired whether the Government would raise the selling price for paddy, the Minister said that a kilo of rice will still be sold for Rs. 50, and the Government will bear the loss of Rs. 25,000.
Politicians of the government, as well as the opposition and the Maha Sangha, expressed their views regarding the current political situation and various crises today (06)
Highways Minister Johnston Fernando states that although there are reports of gas explosions islandwide, there are no reports of gas explosions in Colombo 07.
The Minister pointed out that no such incidents have been reported in the Northern Province or in areas such as Kandy and Kurunegala and that doubts have arisen if there is a conspiracy behind these incidents
The ceremony to open the new three-storied building of the Maliyadeva Balika Vidyalaya in Kurunegala was held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning (06).
Addressing the gathering, the Minister said that the new year should move forward with a positive outlook and that a proper program should be formulated to find solutions to the many crises caused by the COVID pandemic in recent years.
The Minister of Highways further stated that due to the depletion of foreign reserves in the country, the people have faced an increase in the prices of goods and the President has carried out a meticulous investigation into the gas explosions that have taken place.
The Minister said that the government has already taken all necessary steps to ensure that the education of children with disabilities is carried out systematically this year.
Minister of Education Dinesh Gunawardena and several others were also present at the occasion.
SSP Thalduwa made these claims to the media in relation to the incident where an activist was questioned by the CID for posting a video on social media of the public verbally protesting against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as he was travelling through Mirihana. FactCheck.lk assessed these claims by analysing the provisions of the Constitution and judgments of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
Article 14(1)(a) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka vests every citizen with the freedom of speech and expression. Under the Constitution, the freedom of expression can be restricted only by law for the protection of, among other things, national security, public order, racial and religious harmony, parliamentary privilege, or to prevent incitement to an offense. The legality of publishing insulting statements against the president or government was dealt with in the 2015 judgement of the Supreme Court (SC) in Wahalathanthri v. Jayantha Wickramaratne, Inspector General of Police [S.C. (F.R.) Application No. 768/2009]. In this case, the police sought to prosecute two persons under Section 120 of the Penal Code for carrying harshly worded placards that protested the government. In its determination, the SC declared that the publication of defamatory, embarrassing, or insulting statements against the president or government is a lawful and democratic exercise of the freedom of expression.
The SC also held that the police cannot prosecute members of the public for merely publishing defamatory, embarrassing, or insulting statements against the president or government, and that Section 120 of the Penal Code would apply only if such statements were intended to incite violence.
The above analysis confirms that publishing statements that merely insult or defame the president does not attract any criminal liability. As no criminal liability attaches to the making of statements that insult or defame the president, there is no lawful basis for the police to take legal action against persons who publish or exchange such statements. Therefore, we classify SSP Thalduwa’s statement as FALSE.
**FactCheck.lk’s verdict is based on the most recent information that is publicly accessible. As with every fact check, if new information becomes available, FactCheck.lk will revisit the assessment.
FactCheck is a platform run by Verité Research. For comments, suggestions and feedback, please visit www.factcheck.lk.
A total number of 11,380 tourists had arrived in the island in the first four days of the new year Russian tourists head the list with 2,032 visitors, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said.
Moreover, 1,809 tourists, from India, 1,041 from Ukraine, 775 from Germany, 709 from the UK, 506 from Kazakhstan, 506 from the Maldives, 420 from Australia, 414 from France and 282 from Poland were among those arrived in the first four days of January.
The minister said 194,888 tourists have arrived in the country in the year 2021 after the reopening of the country.
The Minister said that only 1,682 tourists have visited Sri Lanka in January 2021.
He said steps will be taken to make this year, the best year for the tourism industry.(DarshanaSanjeewaBalasuriya)
Agreement to develop Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm was signed this evening, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said.He said in a twitter post that signatories were Treasury Secretary, Land Commissioner General, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), LIOC and Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd.”85 of the 99 tanks will come under Sri Lanka’s purview, which were under India,” the Minister tweeted.
The Ministry of Health reports that another 584 persons have tested positive for coronavirus within today (06), as the country’s tally of confirmed cases crossed the 59,000-mark on Thursday.
This figure includes 12 persons who had arrived from overseas while the rest are new community cases.
The total number of Covid-19 cases registered in the country thus far stands 590,063 with this while the number of infected patients currently undergoing treatment is 13,423
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 18 more coronavirus-related deaths for January 04, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 15,065.
According to the figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 12 males and 06 females.
Five of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. The remaining 13 are in the age group of 60 years.
Colombo, Jan 5 (EFE).- The severe economic crisis affecting Sri Lanka, with record inflation and the possibility of the country failing to pay its financial debts, has forced families to give up meals due to shortage of food and steep prices.
Our only option was to cut down on food consumption. Sometimes we only have two meals a day. At other times we cook once a day and eat sparingly,” Priyanka Kumari, 44, from Boralesgamuwa in the country’s Western Province, told EFE.
Household incomes have been hit hard by the crisis, while inflation shot up to 11 percent in November, the highest in 13 years.
Kumari said she used to make a living by selling cooked food but had to stop when prices of the ingredients soared, after the government imposed import restrictions to mitigate a foreign currency crisis.
When we increase prices, people don’t buy,” she said.
Vegetable prices have tripled this December compared to the same month last year, according to the latest National Consumer Price Index.
Prices of rice, a basic food item in the country, have also shot up along with flour and bread, while fuel prices have risen sharply, up to 85 percent in the case of cooking gas.
A drastic fall in tourism due to the pandemic, with the crucial sector coming to a complete halt due to borders being closed for months at a time, has been another blow for Sri Lankans.
When Covid-29 first hit, the country stopped allowing tourists. As a result, my salary was reduced by 50 percent,” Lahiru Sameera, a 26-year-old former employee of the sector, told EFE.
On Tuesday, the Sri Lankan government announced an aid package worth $1 billion for the poorest section of the country, public sector employees and senior citizens.
Cabinet spokesperson Dullas Alahapperuma said that the aid would help ease economic pressure on these sections of the population.
The measure includes a payout of 10,000 Sri Lankan rupees (around $50) per family to promote home gardening.
Amid the grave economic crisis, Sri Lanka has witnessed its foreign currency reserve dwindle in recent years and is now burdened with high levels of both public and private foreign debt.
The country needs to pay $500 million in international sovereign bonds by the end of January, and around $6.9 billion by the end of the year in domestic and foreign loans, according to rating agency Fitch, which reduced Sri Lanka’s long-term sovereign rating to CC from CCC last month, due to the possibility of the government defaulting on payments.
Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves have dropped by around $2 billion since August, going down to $1.6 billion by late November, according to the agency.
However, Colombo has insisted that it would not default on the payments.
Cabinet co-spokesperson and Plantations Minister Ramesh Pathirama told reporters on Tuesday that the tourism sector and exports were gradually improving.
We are also planning to increase local production. For example, distributing fresh milk instead of powdered milk. We have imported a large amount of medicine for a long time. We have started to produce our medicine,” he said in a presser.
The government is also negotiating credit line facilities with China, India and Japan.
Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara organization has planned to give the opportunity to a team of youngsters (age 17+) to be sponsors and organizers of the 2022 Kathina ceremony. Our goal is to give full responsibility to this young team for conducting all the tasks and events from the initiation- Kathina invitation day (Saturday, July 9th, 2022) to the Katina Robe offering day (October 8 & 9th, 2022) at the end of the ceremony.
We kindly invite all the young devotees to join the “sponsoring and organizing team of the Kathina ceremony 2022” to gain experience of every single task of this wonderful and meritorious ceremony and help preserve our traditions for future generations.
Recently, Thailand has decided to provide the duty-free, quota-free (DFQF) market facility for Bangladeshi products in its market until 2026 to increase two-way trade volume. The declaration came as such facilities to Bangladesh by Thailand expired on 31 December 2020. It is high time to analyze the market situation of Thailand to devise appropriate strategies to get optimum benefits from the DFQF market facilities offered to Bangladesh.
The journey of Bangladesh–Thailand relations began on 5 October 1972 when Thailand recognized Bangladesh as a sovereign nation-state. The diplomatic ties began with the establishment of the Thai Embassy in Bangladesh in 1974. In order to promote bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Thailand, these two friendly countries signed a bilateral trade agreement on 22 August 1997. They have also formed a joint chamber of commerce to generate maximum output from their economic engagement.
From the very beginning of their relations, these two countries have been enjoying very warm bindings and have been working to deepen their bilateral ties for mutual benefits. The bilateral linkage between these two countries has been strengthened over time because of shared strong commitment to democratic values, efforts to foster international peace, harmony, and security. Their cultural, social, and religious linkage also contributed to blossoming the ties.
The current trade scenario between Bangladesh and Thailand
In South Asia, Bangladesh is the third-largest trading partner of Thailand. Although the bilateral trade between these two countries crossed USD 1.25 billion in 2018, it has experienced a declining trend after that time period. As Bilateral trade between them dropped to USD 910.05 million in 2020 from USD 1,067.90 million in 2019, they should work together to increase bilateral trade and investment.
Bangladesh basically exports vegetables, plastic items, rubber products, soap, animal goods, apparel, electrical & electronic equipment, fish, medicines, etc. to Thailand. On the other hand, Bangladesh imports cement, iron and steel, cereals, organic chemicals, machinery and mechanical appliances, synthetic fiber, and cotton fabrics, sugar, and sugar confectionery, etc. from Thailand. Bangladesh has a huge untapped bilateral trade prospect to discover with Thailand. It can export pharmaceuticals and health care goods, chemical products, leather goods, jute goods, frozen fish, knitwear and woven garments, ceramic tableware, tea, etc. to the Thai market. As these products have huge demand in Thailand, Bangladesh can earn huge foreign currency by exporting these goods with easy access, the DFQF, provided by Thailand. Bangladesh should also utilize this DFQF market access offered by Thailand to have competitive advantages
How can Bangladesh generate optimum benefit from the Thai Market?
If Bangladesh does its homework properly, then it can get maximum output from the DFQF facility offered by Thailand. Firstly, Bangladesh should analyze the Thai market to understand the Thai economy, its cultural practices, and social norms and then assess the consumption habits and patterns of Thai consumers. Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Bangladesh-Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industry can jointly conduct this analysis.
Secondly, Bangladesh should promote local producers to boost their export to Thailand by providing different facilities such as creating backward linkage for easing production, arranging raw materials for the products that will be exported to Thailand, offering easy loans, etc. Thirdly, responsible government agencies should take initiative to promote and brand Bangladeshi products in the Thai market to increase market demand for Bangladeshi products.
Fourthly, Bangladesh may arrange or participate in a Trade fair organized in Thailand to inform the people there about Bangladeshi goods and services. Fifthly, a team of Bangladeshi businessmen may visit Thailand to have a better understanding of the products being sold there and to have an idea about the goods that might be exported there. Sixthly, the existing relations among the businessmen of both countries should be nurtured and expanded for giving the economic engagement a new shape. Seventhly, the governments of both countries should work shoulder-to-shoulder to simplify the regulations to boost exports and enhance bilateral economic engagement.
As Bangladesh has eight export processing zones (EPZs) and has undertaken initiatives to establish 100 Special Economic Zones (EZs), it should try to attract Thai investors by informing them of the different incentives and facilities available here such as tax holiday, One-Stop Service, etc. in EPZs and EZs. Government should allocate lands for the businessmen of Thailand in these EZs with easy terms and conditions. Both countries may rethink and take the joint initiative to flourish the tourism sectors in their respective countries. They should work to ease visa restrictions which not only will boost trade and investment but also make it easy for Bangladeshi to avail Thai healthcare facilities.
Bangladesh and Thailand have common membership in BIMSTEC which reflects that they have common interests and goals. Besides, in order to address bilateral trade-related issues, they have set up a joint trade commission which is really a praiseworthy initiative. As Bangladesh is officially going to be an LDC-graduate by 2026, it may face different challenges, e.g., cancellation of GSP facilities, which may have a negative impact on its export earnings. In order to avoid the decline in export earnings, Bangladesh should sign Free Trade Agreements with its friendly countries such as Thailand.
BIMSTEC or Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation has 7 members – India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. The grouping is more than 20 years old and was formed in 1997. The last summit took place in Kathmandu in 2018 with PM Modi and other member-leaders attending the meet. BIMSTEC region has huge prospects for economic cooperation.
Sri Lanka is the chair of the grouping and had earlier proposed holding a virtual summit on 9th December which has now been postponed. According to the media reports, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, better known as BIMSTEC, is likely to hold a summit of the heads of governments in Sri Lanka on March 30 in a hybrid setting providing scopes for both in-person and virtual participation.
Sri Lanka is a founding member of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation (BIMSTEC). Since its inception in 1997, Sri Lanka has been an active member of the Multilateral Forum. The archipelago presided over for the first time between 2002-2003, during which time Colombo promoted member states’ political commitments to strengthen sub-regional cooperation. As of 2016, BIMSTEC members accounted for only 17.4 percent of the total trade in Colombo trade goods. On the other hand, Bangladesh maintains friendly ties with almost all the neighbouring nations. This allows the country to play a bigger role in regional affairs.
Its imports from BIMSTEC accounted for only 23 per cent of its total imports and Sri Lankan exports to BIMSTEC members accounted for only 7 per cent. Moreover, India contributes more than 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s trade with BIMSTEC. In parallel with the slow progress of BIMSTEC, Sri Lanka’s cooperation with BIMSTEC members has grown in place of snails.
In this context, Sri Lanka has been the Chairman of BIMSTEC from 2018-2020. Following which, Sri Lanka has the opportunity to ensure rapid cooperation between the member states of the Gulf region. During the Fourth Summit, the former President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, emphasized that BIMSTEC countries share shared aspirations for growth, development, trade and technology, and that Sri Lanka would facilitate this natural platform for the implementation of regional connectivity and economic cooperation. Actually, BIMSTEC has an important role to play in the regional trade area. All member states including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should reap the benefits and exchanges this regional advantages. The BIMSTEC region has huge prospects for economic cooperation much of which still remains unexplored and unexploited.
Five members of the seven-member international organisation have already confirmed their participation in the summit, called by Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according tomedia reports. The countries that conveyed their confirmation are Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Bangladesh and India, the two other members of the regional group of the countries around the Bay of Bengal, are expected to formally confirm their participation soon as the host, Sri Lanka, the outgoing chair of the group, sought concurrence of all member countries discretely about holding the meeting on March 30, media report said.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to join the summit, to be held in Colombo. It is yet to be decided whether she will travel to Sri Lanka or join the meeting virtually. Foreign ministers and foreign secretaries of the BIMSTEC member countries are scheduled to meet on March 28 and 29 respectively for facilitating decision making at the summit on March 30.
The heads of the governments of the BIMSTEC member countries are expected to approve a charter for the organisation in the meeting after 24 years of its journey. The member countries ‘have completed the negotiation of the BIMSTEC charter and it is expected to be signed’ in the forthcoming fifth summit with participation of the heads of the governments in Colombo, BIMSTEC secretary general Tenzin Lekphell said in October.
The Colombo summit, the fifth meeting of the heads of the governments, was postponed twice in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. In addition to the BIMSTEC charter, three other legal instruments are expected to be signed at the summit. These are a BIMSTEC convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, a memorandum of association on the establishment of BIMSTEC technology transfer facility in Colombo and a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation between diplomatic academies and training institutions of the member countries.
Bangladesh as the lead country for Trade, Investment and Development is strongly committed to strengthen BIMSTEC cooperation in this field. There is the importance of making all entities of the BIMSTEC process fully functional and operational. The BIMSTEC process needs concerted and quicker efforts and more intense engagements amongst the member states. It is imperative to forge more realistic partnership and shared endeavours to prosper together through exploitation of the full potential of this region.
The summit is also expected to reconstitute and rationalise 14 areas of cooperation into seven sectors, where each sector will be led by a member country. The foreign secretaries met 21 times, foreign ministers 17 times and heads of governments four times since the establishment of the BIMSTEC 24 years ago in 1997, while security advisers met thrice since 2017. Thailand is scheduled to take over the responsibilities of the BIMSTEC chair in the fifth summit in Sri Lanka.
BIMSTEC has identified 13 priority sectors, including trade and investment, transport and communication, counter-terrorism and transnational crimes, energy, climate, agriculture, poverty alleviation, tourism, public health and people-to-people contact. Bangladesh is the lead country for three areas – trade, investment, and climate, and has reiterated its fullest cooperation in this regard during the successive BIMSTEC ministerial meetings and summits.
According to media reports, in the current structure of bilateral trade among these countries, we see that most of the BIMSTEC members have experienced a considerable rise in bilateral trade over the years. A larger volume of exports was observed in the case of Thailand’s exports to India (US$ 5.5 billion in 2015); India’s exports to Sri Lanka (US$ 4.4 billion), Bangladesh (US$ 3.4 billion), and Nepal (US$ 2.6 billion); and Myanmar’s exports to Thailand (US$ 3.3 billion) and India (US$ 1.3 billion). Overall, India and Thailand are two major economies – both in terms of export and import – while Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar are three major economies in terms of import. The bilateral trade record of BIMSTEC countries indicates that the existing pattern of trade is heavily influenced by geographical proximity, relative size of the economies, and predominant trade routes.
BIMSTEC has received greater attention in the context of progressing co‑operation in the region. In addition to high-level diplomatic engagements, substantial steps have been taken towards co‑operation in a wide range of areas. In the fourth BIMSTEC summit meeting—which was held in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, in August 2018—member countries signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection to enhance energy co‑operation. This is expected to expedite the buying and selling of electricity between the countries—including those not directly bordering each other—once the cross-country grid infrastructure is in place. We expect tangible progress to be made in the field of energy co‑operation in 2019‑23.
New ground is also being broken in the security arena, as evidenced by the successful hosting of the first-ever joint military exercise between India and other BIMSTEC countries in September 2018. Each of the 14 areas of co‑operation under BIMSTEC is led by a particular country. That relating to security is headed by India and covers counterterrorism and transnational crimes. We expect that India will continue pushing for greater security co‑operation, particularly on counterterrorism. Furthermore, it is likely that in the next few years, member countries will undertake full ratification of conventions on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and co‑operation in combating international terrorism.
The most significant breakthrough, however, is expected to be in connectivity. Five of the seven BIMSTEC member countries share a border with India, which includes the busiest land-customs checkpoint in Asia: The Petrapole-Benapole checkpoint between India and Bangladesh. Despite this, intra-regional trade accounts for only 5% of the grouping’s total trade; poor road connectivity is one of the main reasons. We expect progress to be made on transport connectivity over the 2019‑23 forecast period. In particular, the two main agreements, the BIMSTEC Coastal Shipping Agreement and the BIMSTEC Motor Vehicle Agreement—which are aimed at facilitating trade and transport linkages between member countries—are likely to be finalised over the next five years.
Despite the strong political thrust in favour of BIMSTEC, the organisation still faces manpower constraints and limited resources. This will be addressed partly by member countries’ increased commitment towards financial and human resources. Furthermore, areas such as negotiating a free-trade agreement—traditionally the focus of organisations that advocate regional co‑operation—will remain on the backburner in 2019‑23. Nevertheless, the importance of BIMSTEC will continue to grow, with India relying heavily on it to further its regional agenda. However, the upcoming BIMSTEC summit will ensure to create a common regional platform to address some common regional problems. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as regional stakeholders have some common agenda such as strengthening connectivity, growing trade, tackling covid-19, terrorism, climate change, resolving and meditating Rohingya refugee crisis between Myanmar and Bangladesh etc. The upcoming BIMSTEC summit will provide the benefits for all regional states including Myanmar and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should fully utilize the potential.
Sri
Lankan economic challenges are because of many factors. Most
important of these was the economy was run down for 5 years by the Ayahapalana
govt where not a shred of economic activity was initiated and what had been
started before was thwarted ( Colombo Port City, Hambantota Port activity) and
then went back to the same after two to three years of delay on terms more
adverse to SL, Sri Lanka borrowed 7 Billion $ external debt for spending spree
and consumer goods to keep consumers happy blissfully ignorant of the damage
being done while the leaders thrived , while Islamic Terrorist funders
had a field day with unmonitored and unrestricted gulf money,.During this
period of no economic activity not even a ulvert (bokkuwa) was built.
The
prime activity then was creating a FCID an extra judicial
force under the direct control of PM, RW , above all law with the
primary objective of imprisoning MR & GR using bribery, threats , coercion
and victimisation of potential witnesses who all refused to testify
against GR & MR despite these. The other activity was a Constitutional
Council to appease the Tiger Diaspora that was funding them but had to fold
up after 4 years without anything show for the effort. The worst of them
all were not one but two centralbank robberies which money they
are still using to fund their misinformation campaign.
When
Covid hit against this back ground , the results were not unexpected with loss
of $4.5billion from tourism and $3.5 billion from remittances with workers
returning to SL from ME
This
admin. realised the prime importance of eradicating covid, embarked on a
vaccination program delayed to May because India who had earlier promised
their locally produced astra Zeneca vaccination renaged because they had to use
it on their population that was badly affected by then. President GR managed to
secure Chinese Zinofarm vaccination to replace it at short notice , testimony
to GR’s efforts and Chinese goodwill.. When it’s affects were seeing a
reductio in cases by June end, they released the Guru Udghoshanas which spewed
millions of viruses from their screaming throats which caused a relapse
starting July.
The
prophets of gloom led by the ex Ayahapalan leaders who had all the liability
for the current challenges had the unexpected help from an ill-advised sudden
total withdrawal of chemical fertiliser leading to shortfalls in production
which is being orchestrate by all sections of media , driven by rating
competition given that only negative news gets ratings, consistentg basest of
human emotions.Remedial actions for these errors are being instituted without
losing all the gains of organic farming.
This
was compounded by gas explosions consequent to ill-advised changes in
mixture of Propane/Butane probably done by a combination of motivation to
increase profit margin by decreasing the more expensive component unaware of it
leading to increase in it’s inflammability in the already existent gas cookers
designed for the earlier mixture.There might have been an element of deliberate
commission in this change too to embarrass the govt.
Now
with the very commendable though rarely mentioned monumental control of
Covid and tourism and foreign remittances returning the traitorous
prophets of gloom being their opportunity slipping through their fingers
are trying their level best to reactivate Covid and thwart the recovery
with more Uthgoshana’s , spreading rumour and destroying self confidence and
moral. These have been complemented by a series of traitorous undermining
activities including hoarding of essential food items and creating a
blackmarket.
The
improvement of FOREX. from returning tourism, foreign remittances ,
increase in local industry especially agro industry, manufacture of tyres for
export , local motor car assembly, never mentioned in media, increasing
in economic activity related to port city especially port city luxary Yatch
Marina now up and running,and activity in Hambantota free trade manufacturing
zone especially pharmaceutical and Hambantota port activity.. Nor is there
any mention of new economic activity stimulated by the current adversities,
like firewood industry , cottage food industry using every inch ov available
space in the household gardens of which there is limit. So also potential for
pot based foods using modern technology.
The
choice of whether more temprorary borrowings be made from friendly nations with
no adverse conditions or from the IMF that would impose harsh conditions that
would make the govt even more unpopular is obvious depending on whom you
support , the Govt or the opposition who when they were in power barely
two years ago, did nothing as made clear from the above.
The
people of SL have a choice. Believe the failed leaders who are
largely responsible for the current economic challenges despite all their
vociferous pontifications and promises now, or practice patience ,
wisdom and mindfulness focussing on the positives and the light now
being seen at the end of the tunnel likely to become progressively
brighter in the coming months .Are the people of to be moved by the
orchestrated baseless negatives , that seems to be the order of the day from
ratings driven media and unregulated social media or continue with mindfulness
and wisdom,
The
Coffin carrying the remains of Priantha Kumara at BIA
Priyantha Kumara, a Sri
Lankan Export Manager, employed by Rajko Industries, Sialkot, became an Islamic
fanatic group’s victim on 3 December 2021. Police records revealed that he was
beaten with sticks, fists and kicks by a group consisting of dozens of
assemblies before being dragged to the road outside the factory and set on fire
alive.
Rajko Industries
manufactured cricket jerseys and other gear for the Pakistan cricket team in
T20 World Cup. Priyantha Kumara was the youngest of six siblings. His mother
was not told how he was lynched and later burnt alive. Kamal, his brother, told
the international media how they concealed the
facts from their mother.
His family informed his
mother that his death was due to an accident and kept her mother away from
social media and television. His mother is 80 years old, suffering from
diabetes and hypertension. Priyantha’s family members said they were unable to
explain to her what exactly happened. The mother was repeatedly weeping from
the moment she heard about Priyantha’s death.
The family told the mother
they did not know the exact details about how the accident occurred. Priyantha
and his brother Kumara have lived in Pakistan for over ten years. They seemed
to have no complaints whatsoever while living in Pakistan. Kumara told the
international Media that many Pakistani friends made condolence calls. They
all sympathised with me and were crying and ashamed to call themselves
Pakistanis.”
Blaspheme means death
Priyantha Kumara was
alleged of blasphemy by Pakistan’s mob leader. The punishment for blasphemy is
death under a Pakistani law made by President Zia ul Haq in the 1980s. This
incident of Priyantha goes down in the annals of modern-day international
history as the worst act of criminality. According to Aljazeera TV, blasphemy
allegations have led to extrajudicial murders or mob lynching, with at least 80
people killed in such attacks since 1990.
The savage killing of
Priyantha Kumara shocked Pakistan. Religious leaders, civil society and
politicians in Pakistan utterly condemned the lynching. On Sunday, 5 December,
civil society groups demonstrated against Priyantha’s killing in Sialkot. It
appears to be an excuse for radicals to gain support and mileage for the
lynching. A recent news flash in a newspaper disclosed how the massacre of
Priyantha purposely prevented the perpetrators from manslaughter and the
investigations.
Priyantha Kumara worked in
Sialkot in Pakistan for over ten years. Protesters accused him of defacing
posters bearing Prophet Muhammad’s name and throwing it into a trash bin.
Another viewpoint was that he was a foreigner and may not have comprehended
Urdu lettering on the poster! Nevertheless, the whole world condemned the
lynching and setting fire to Priyantha’s body in a public place witnessed by
hundreds of spectators, who did not utter a word about the slaughter, except
for one decent Pakistani who tried to shield Priyantha and suffered.
Pakistan Government paid the highest honour to the man who attempted to rescue
Priyantha Kumara from mob violence. Videos on YouTube shared on social media
showed hundreds of men and young boys gathered at the scene.
Amnesty
International
Amnesty International
requested an impartial inquiry into the killing. Authorities in Pakistan caught
the perpetrators responsible for the lynching. They emphasised the urgency
where it enables such abuses and risks lives. In South Asian (Muslim) countries
religious violence in connection with blasphemy rose in recent years,
especially with the rising of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The Pakistani authorities made an immediate investigation and arrested several
key suspects.
Meanwhile, Pakistani
religious scholars expressed sympathy on behalf of the entire Muslim community
in Pakistan. They declared: Islam is a religion of peace that declares a
murder of an innocent man as the murder of all humanity.” They further
mentioned that Rajko Industries have pledged to bear expenses for Priyantha
Kumara’s two children. The Muslim community in Pakistan said: We are satisfied
with measures taken by the Government of Pakistan concerning the probe and
action against culprits regarding the lynching.”
The Pakistani Police
have so far produced eighty-five suspects in connection with the Sialkot
lynching. Pakistan Court (ATC) initially remanded thirty-four people accused of
the murder of Priyantha Kumara. The judge remanded thirteen suspects and
ordered the Police to produce them in court on 3 January 2022. Meanwhile, the
Pakistani Upper House of Parliament unanimously passed a resolution condemning
the lynching of the Sri Lankan Export Manager at Rajko industries in
Sialkot.
The Chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee said he would send a delegation of senators to Sri
Lanka to hand over the parliamentary resolution to Priyantha Kumar’s family ( a
copy of the senate resolution) and express their deepest sympathies to the
family. He further added that the religion of Islam had nothing to do with
lynching, and several people interpreted blasphemy to suit themselves.”
The Prime Ministerial representative visited the Sri Lanka High Commission in
Islamabad to reveal how Priyantha’s loss was replaced by the administration of
Rajko industries in Sialkot by another Sri Lankan citizen in the factory
stating that, we are thankful to Sri Lankans in this hour of fear.”
History
Pakistan is a friend of Sri
Lanka. During the LTTE separatist war that lasted for thirty years, Pakistan
helped Sri Lanka by supplying the much needed arms and ammunition.
But this incident of lynching Priyantha Kumara and burning him alive by
religious fanatics in Sialkot may have affected the openness between the two
countries.
The Pakistan regime is
desperately endeavouring to alleviate any diplomatic confrontation over the
lynching incident. His brother in Sri Lanka had a completely different
interpretation. He said, Priyantha lived in Pakistan for so many years, and he
knew about the country, including the religious fanatics. Therefore, as claimed
by the mob, there was no question of blasphemy.”
Another aspect
highlighted was the pending salary increase for the factory workers!
Nevertheless, the whole world condemned Pakistan for the brutal killing of
Priyantha Kumara and burning his body alive in a public place. According to his
brother Kamal, Priyantha was not concerned about religious issues because he
always focussed on the workload in the factory.
He never participated in
any religious discussions. We both respect every
religion, and we never had any disrespectful opinions on any religion.” On
Tuesday, Priyantha’s post-mortem was carried out. His funeral took place in his
native Gampaha District. There are two factions of Islam – Wahhabism and
Sufism. Wahhabism originated in the 18th-century by an Islamic scholar, preacher
and activist named Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. For more than two centuries in
Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism remained the dominant faith.
It played a rigidly
puritanical outlook of Islam. Wahhabis sternly believe that those who do not
adhere to their way of tradition are heathens and their enemies. Sufism is the
opposite of Wahhabism. Sufism is concerned with the soul or the spirit rather
than material things. It is opposed to Wahhabism seeking to find the absolute
truth in God.
Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said, if there is a food shortage in the country, then food items will be imported just like Dubai and Singapore do.
He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Eppawala Phosphate Limited.
Many speak about food security and food shortages these days. Dubai does not have any agricultural produce. They import agricultural produce and the people never go hungry. The same applies to Singapore. If there is a food shortage, we will import it. This is standard procedure. Some people are trying to make an undue fuss about this,” Aluthgamage added.
Susil Premjayantha, who was stripped of his mintierial portfolio yesterday, said that he would return to his legal profession.
Premjayantha, speaking to journalists said: Last week, when I visited the Delkanda fair, I was asked by journalists there to comment on prices of essential goods. I responded that agriculture had failed and the government’s policy decisions were a disaster. I said that price of a kilo of chillies sold at Rs 1,200. I was speaking on behalf of the people. Losing this portfolio is not a big issue. It was in 2000 that I first became a minister. I held many ministerial posts under many presidents since then,” Premjayantha said.
He said some persons with no eductional qualifications were in the decision-making positions of the government. Some of them were not qualified to become even sanitary workers. They don’t know the value of education,” Premajayantha said.
Chief Government Whip and Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said Premajayantha had made public statements detrimental to the interests of the government. He being a senior politician should have known better. He as a state minister representing the government has responsibilities and should have acted within limits. He has a responsibility to protect the government and its policies. If there were shortcomings in those policies there are many forums where they should have been raised. There are many occasions when the President meets the ministers. Premjayantha should have raised the problems or opinions he had about the government policies then. Not even a minister, anyone who had played in a team, knows the need for standing as a single team of players. As a senior politician, Premajayantha is expected to set an example to the new MPs. We are bound by our duties and responsibilities and should uphold them.
The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 10 more coronavirus-related deaths for January 04, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 15,065.
According to the figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 07 males and 03 females.
Three of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. The remaining 07 are in the age group of 60 years.
The Ministry of Health reported that another 550 persons have tested positive for coronavirus today (January 05).
This figure includes 02 individuals who recently arrived in the country from overseas.
Following the new development, Sri Lanka’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed to 589,479.
The number of virus-infected patients currently undergoing treatment now stands over 13,000.
Meanwhile, the recoveries count reached 561,412 earlier today as 141 more patients were discharged after regaining health.
Susil Premajayantha, who was recently removed from the post of Minister of State, says that when he speaks the truth on behalf of the people, he does not regret losing his ministry post.
He also said that if those who point out the wrong policies and decisions of the government are punished without question, the people will give the verdict for such things.
The response by the former State Minister to a question raised by a journalist while he visited the Delkanda Fair to purchase vegetables, received heat from many parties.
The former minister said that the cause of all crises such as teacher problems, fertilizer, gas, fertilizer ships and rice was that the government was going in the wrong direction. He also said that the poor people of the country were affected by all these.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena says that even if the people of this country vote to create governments without thieves, after the formation of a government all members of the government will become thieves.
The former President also accused some party leaders of thinking that they are the President of the country from now on.
Sirisena stated this while participating in a public meeting held in Anuradhapura today.
The CEB trade unions warn that there could be another power cut in the country amid the fuel crisis. They point out that the Sapugaskanda thermal power plant has also been closed due to a shortage of diesel
The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery Complex was closed for the second time and the refined fuel is currently in use.
However, the issuance of letters of credit for the unloading of fuel from ships carrying such refined fuel has been hampered by the current dollar crisis.
However, Captain Nirmal Silva, Harbor Master of the Port of Colombo stated that the unloading of fuel from a ship that arrived at the Port of Colombo on 03 January has already commenced at Muthurajawela.
Meanwhile, it was reported to Hiru News team that a fuel crisis has arisen in the thermal power plants of the Ceylon Electricity Board. Our investigation revealed that the fuel available at those plants was only available for a few days.
Convener of the Ceylon Electricity Board Joint Trade Union Alliance Ranjan Jayalal said that there could be a power cut in the future due to the fuel crisis.
When we inquired about this warning, a senior spokesman for the Ceylon Electricity Board said that if the demand for electricity increased during peak hours, the power system could break down due to the prevailing situation.
Meanwhile, two ships owned by Litro and Laugfs have begun unloading gas.
However, even today (05) people who had come to obtain gas in many parts of the island were seen queuing up.
Meanwhile, a group of Samagi Jana Balawega MPs visited the CID today to inquire into the progress of investigations into a previous complaint seeking an inquiry into the gas incident.
By Deborah Brautigam and Meg Rithmire Courtesy The Atlantic
Breakdown of Sources SL’s Debt Burden
China, we are told, inveigles poorer countries into taking out
loan after loan to build expensive infrastructure that they can’t afford and
that will yield few benefits, all with the end goal of Beijing eventually
taking control of these assets from its struggling borrowers. As states around
the world pile on debt to combat the coronavirus pandemic and bolster flagging
economies, fears of such possible seizures have onlyamplified.
Seen this way, China’s internationalization—as laid out in
programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative—is not simply a pursuit of
geopolitical influence but also, in some tellings, a weapon. Once a country is weighed down by
Chinese loans, like a hapless gambler who borrows from the Mafia, it is
Beijing’s puppet and in danger of losing a limb.
The prime example of this is the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota.
As the story goes, Beijing pushed Sri Lanka into borrowing money from Chinese
banks to pay for the project, which had no prospect of commercial success. Onerous
terms and feeble revenues eventually pushed Sri Lanka into default, at which
point Beijing demanded the port as collateral, forcing the
Sri Lankan government to surrender control to a Chinese firm.
The Trump administration pointed to Hambantota to warn of
China’s strategic use of debt: In 2018, former Vice President Mike Pence called
it debt-trap diplomacy”—a phrase he used
through the last days of the administration—and
evidence of China’s military ambitions. Last year, erstwhile Attorney General
William Barr raised the case to argue that Beijing is loading poor
countries up with debt, refusing to renegotiate terms, and then taking control
of the infrastructure itself.”
As Michael Ondaatje, one of Sri Lanka’s greatest
chroniclers, once said, In Sri Lanka a well-told lie is
worth a thousand facts.” And the debt-trap narrative is just that: a lie, and a
powerful one.
Our research shows that Chinese banks are
willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually
seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota. A Chinese
company’s acquisition of a majority stake in the port was a cautionary tale,
but it’s not the one we’ve often heard. With a new administration in
Washington, the truth about the widely, perhaps willfully, misunderstood case
of Hambantota Port is long overdue.
The city of Hambantota lies at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, a
few nautical miles from the busy Indian Ocean shipping lane that accounts
for nearly all of the ocean-borne trade between Asia and Europe, and more than
80 percent of ocean-borne global trade. When a Chinese firm snagged the
contract to build the city’s port, it was stepping into an ongoing Western
competition, though one the United States had largely abandoned.
It was the Canadian International Development Agency—not
China—that financed Canada’s leading engineering and construction firm,
SNC-Lavalin, to carry out a feasibility study for the port. We obtained more
than 1,000 pages of documents detailing this effort through a Freedom of Information
Act request. The study, concluded in 2003, confirmed that building the port at
Hambantota was feasible, and supporting documents show that the Canadians’
greatest fear was losing the project to European competitors. SNC-Lavalin
recommended that it be undertaken through a joint-venture agreement between the
Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and a private consortium” on a
build-own-operate-transfer basis, a type of project in which a single company
receives a contract to undertake all the steps required to get such a port up
and running, and then gets to operate it when it is.
The Canadian project failed to move forward, mostly because of
the vicissitudes of Sri Lankan politics. But the plan to build a port in
Hambantota gained traction during the rule of the Rajapaksas—Mahinda Rajapaksa,
who served as president from 2005 through 2015, and his brother Gotabaya, the
current president and former minister of defense—who grew up in Hambantota.
They promised to bring big ships to the
region, a call that gained urgency after the devastating 2004 tsunami
pulverized Sri Lanka’s coast and the local economy.
We reviewed a second feasibility report, produced in 2006 by the
Danish engineering firm Ramboll, that made similar recommendations to the plans
put forward by SNC-Lavalin, arguing that an initial phase of the project should
allow for the transport of non-containerized cargo—oil, cars, grain—to start
bringing in revenue, before expanding the port to be able to handle the traffic
and storage of traditional containers. By then, the port in the capital city of
Colombo, a hundred miles away and consistently one of the world’s busiest, had
just expanded and was already pushing capacity. The Colombo port, however, was
smack in the middle of the city, while Hambantota had a hinterland, meaning it
offered greater potential for expansion and development.
To look at a map of the Indian Ocean region at the time was to
see opportunity and expanding middle classes everywhere. Families in India and
across Africa were demanding more consumer goods from China. Countries such as
Vietnam were growing rapidly and would need more natural resources. To justify
its existence, the port in Hambantota would have to secure only a fraction of
the cargo that went through Singapore, the world’s busiest transshipment port.
Armed with the Ramboll report, Sri Lanka’s government approached the United States and India; both countries said no. But a
Chinese construction firm, China Harbor Group, had learned about Colombo’s
hopes, and lobbied hard for the project. China Eximbank agreed to fund it, and
China Harbor won the contract.
This was in 2007, six years before Xi Jinping introduced the
Belt and Road Initiative. Sri Lanka was still in the last, and bloodiest, phase
of its long civil war, and the world was on the verge of a financial crisis.
The details are important: China Eximbank offered a $307 million, 15-year commercial
loan with a four-year grace period, offering Sri Lanka a choice between a 6.3
percent fixed interest rate or one that would rise or fall depending on LIBOR, a floating rate. Colombo chose the
former, conscious that global interest rates were trending higher during the
negotiations and hoping to lock in what it thought would be favorable terms.
Phase I of the port project was completed on schedule within three years.
For a conflict-torn country that struggled to generate tax
revenue, the terms of the loan seemed reasonable. As Saliya Wickramasuriya, the
former chairman of the SLPA, told us, To get commercial loans as large as $300
million during the war was not easy.” That same year, Sri Lanka also issued its
first international bond, with an interest rate of 8.25 percent. Both
decisions would come back to haunt the government.
Finally, in 2009, after decades of violence, Sri Lanka’s civil
war came to an end. Buoyed by the victory, the government embarked on a
debt-financed push to build and improve the country’s infrastructure. Annual
economic growth rates climbed to 6 percent, but Sri Lanka’s debt burden soared
as well.
In Hambantota, instead of waiting for phase 1 of the port to
generate revenue as the Ramboll team had recommended, Mahinda Rajapaksa pushed
ahead with phase 2, transforming Hambantota into a container port. In 2012, Sri
Lanka borrowed another $757 million from China Eximbank, this time at a
reduced, post-financial-crisis interest rate of 2 percent. Rajapaksa took the
liberty of naming the port after himself.
By 2014, Hambantota was losing money. Realizing that they needed
more experienced operators, the SLPA signed an agreement with China Harbor and
China Merchants Group to have them jointly develop and operate the new port for
35 years. China Merchants was already operating a new terminal in the port in
Colombo, and China Harbor had invested $1.4 billion in Colombo Port City, a
lucrative real-estate project involving land reclamation. But while the lawyers
drew up the contracts, a political upheaval was taking shape.
Rajapaksa called a surprise election for January 2015 and in the
final months of the campaign, his own health minister, Maithripala Sirisena,
decided to challenge him. Like opposition candidates in Malaysia, the Maldives,
and Zambia, the incumbent’s financial relations with China and allegations of
corruption made for potent campaign fodder. To the country’s shock, and perhaps
his own, Sirisena won.
Steep payments on international sovereign
bonds, which comprised nearly 40 percent of the country’s external debt, put
Sirisena’s government in dire fiscal straits almost immediately. When Sirisena
took office, Sri Lanka owed more to Japan, the World Bank, and
the Asian Development Bank than to China. Of the $4.5 billion in debt service
Sri Lanka would pay in 2017, only 5 percent was because of Hambantota.
The Central Bank governors under both Rajapaksa and Sirisena do not agree on
much, but they both told us that Hambantota, and Chinese finance in general,
was not the source of the country’s financial distress.
There was also never a default. Colombo arranged a bailout from the International Monetary
Fund, and decided to raise much-needed dollars by leasing out the
underperforming Hambantota Port to an experienced company—just as the Canadians
had recommended. There was not an open tender, and the only two bids came from
China Merchants and China Harbor; Sri Lanka chose China Merchants, making it
the majority shareholder with a 99-year lease, and used the $1.12 billion cash
infusion to bolster its foreign reserves, not to pay off China Eximbank.
Before the port episode, Sri Lanka could sink into the Indian
Ocean and most of the Western world wouldn’t notice,” Subhashini Abeysinghe,
research director at Verité Research, an independent Colombo-based think tank,
told us. Suddenly, the island nation featured prominently in foreign-policy
speeches in Washington. Pence voiced worry that Hambantota could become a
forward military base” for China.
Yet Hambantota’s location is strategic only from a business
perspective: The port is cut into the coast to avoid the Indian Ocean’s heavy
swells, and its narrow channel allows only one ship to enter or exit at a time,
typically with the aid of a tugboat. In the event of a military conflict, naval
vessels stationed there would be proverbial fish in a barrel.
The notion of debt-trap diplomacy” casts China as a conniving
creditor and countries such as Sri Lanka as its credulous victims. On a closer
look, however, the situation is far more complex. China’s march outward, like
its domestic development, is probing and experimental, a learning process
marked by frequent adjustment. After the construction of the port in
Hambantota, for example, Chinese firms and banks learned that strongmen fall
and that they’d better have strategies for dealing with political risk. They’re
now developing these strategies, getting better at discerning business
opportunities and withdrawing where they know they can’t win.
Still, American leaders and thinkers from both sides of the aisle give speeches
about China’s modern-day colonialism.”
Over the past 20 years, Chinese firms have learned a lot about
how to play in an international construction business that remains dominated by
Europe: Whereas China has 27 firms among the top 100 global contractors, up
from nine in 2000, Europe has 37, down from 41. The U.S. has seven, compared to
19 two decades ago.
Chinese firms are not the only companies to benefit from
Chinese-financed projects. Perhaps no country was more alarmed by Hambantota
than India, the regional giant that several times rebuffed Sri Lanka’s appeals
for investment, aid, and equity partnerships. Yet an Indian-led business,
Meghraj, joined the U.K.-based engineering firm Atkins Limited in an international consortium to write the
long-term plan for Hambantota Port and for the development of a new business
zone. The French firms Bolloré and CMA-CGM have
partnered with China Merchants and China Harbor in port developments in
Nigeria, Cameroon, and elsewhere.
The other side of the debt-trap myth involves debtor countries.
Places such as Sri Lanka—or, for that matter, Kenya, Zambia, or Malaysia—are no
stranger to geopolitical games. And they’re irked by American views that
they’ve been so easily swindled. As one Malaysian politician remarked to us,
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss how Chinese finance featured in
that country’s political drama, Can’t the U.S. State Department tell the
difference between campaign rhetoric that our opponents are slaves to China and
actually being slaves to China?”
The events that led to a Chinese company’s acquisition of a
majority stake in a Sri Lankan port reveal a great deal about how our world is
changing. China and other countries are becoming more sophisticated in
bargaining with one another. And it would be a shame if the U.S. fails to learn
alongside them.Deborah Brautigam is Bernard L. Schwartz
Professor of International Political Economy at the School of Advanced
International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
