International Affairs

LONDON - Leaders of the G-7 group of industrialized nations meet this weekend in Britain, with an agenda topped by the global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, taxation, and the challenges posed by Russia and China.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov who had a telephone conversation with his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardane said Russia was fully cooperative of the initiative to co-produce its Sputnik V vaccine here and asked the Sri Lankan authorities to expedite the process.

චීනයේ ගුවැන්ෂූ නගරයේ නව කොරෝනා පොකුරක් පැතිර යමින් තිබෙනවා. විදෙස් වාර්තා සදහන් කළේ මේ හේතුවෙන් එම නගරයේ මහ පරිමාණ කොවිඩ් පරීක්ෂණ වැඩසටහනක් ආරම්භ කර ඇති බවයි. ගුවැන්ෂූ නගරයෙන් වාර්තා වන නව කොවිඩ් පොකුරෙන් මේ වන විට ආසාදිතයින් 73 දෙනෙකු හදුනාගෙන තිබෙනවා.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has responded positively to a request made by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to supply 600,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccines to Sri Lanka's Health Ministry, sources within the President's office said.

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand launched a mass COVID-19 vaccination drive yesterday as it seeks to beat a third wave of infections and reboot its vital tourism industry, which has been devastated by pandemic travel curbs.

When the leaders of the world’s industrialized nations meet next week in Cornwall, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask them to commit to “vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022,” according to a statement Saturday.

Switzerland said it expresses solidarity with Sri Lanka in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and yesterday delivered over half a million antigen tests, 50 ventilators, 150 oxygen concentrators as well as other medical examination materials worth of Rs. 800 million.

Reuters: Meghan, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, has given birth to her second child, a girl, whom she and husband Prince Harry have named after Queen Elizabeth and his late mother Princess Diana.

Reuters: A US plan to quickly share COVID-19 vaccine doses with poorer countries is an “important start” but more shots are urgently needed to cover a gap caused by Indian supply disruptions and manufacturing delays, a WHO senior adviser said on Friday.

Sri Lanka has congratulated the Maldives for being elected as the President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

In a nationwide address Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the federal government would take a larger role in obtaining vaccines for Indian states.

Sri Lanka on Thursday formally called on the US House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) not to proceed with H. RES. 413 on Sri Lanka moved by Congresswoman Deborah Ross (Democrat/North Carolina) on 18 May.

While coronavirus infection rates and hospitalizations continue to plummet across the United States, the White House COVID-19 Response Team said Tuesday the Delta variant strain of the virus that causes the disease still poses a threat, particularly among the younger population.

Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon and South Africa have previously enabled similar moves in their efforts to save lives and reduce COVID cases
Malaysia has joined scores of other countries in allowing the private purchase of WHO-approved vaccines in a bid to save lives and stop the rapid spread of COVID-19.

AFP: Foreign experts have been deployed to help Sri Lanka contain a potential oil leak from a burnt-out container ship partially sunk off Colombo, the ship's operator said Friday.

ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ඇස් වසා සමන්තාගේ බැටෑලියන් එක මෙරටට ඇතුළු වූ විදිහ එළිවේ

Several Bangladesh media outlets over the weekend reported that the country hasn’t yet reached a deal on the commercial purchase of COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm quoting Chinese officials.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday requested assistance from the United Kingdom to evaluate the impact on the environment from the wrecked MV X-Press Pearl container vessel.