International Affairs

U.S. Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz said the United States provided a great deal of assistance to Sri Lanka in view of COVID-19 last year – US $7.6 million in direct support and 200 ventilators that were provided last year, in 2020.

U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz announced the first grants awarded through the U.S. government’s Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program yesterday, totaling $345,000.

Turkey has sought to enhance defence cooperation with Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry said today.

Saudi Arabia has restricted arrivals from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines, the Saudi aviation authority announced Friday.

සෞදි අරාබියේ රැඳවුම් කඳවුරු වල සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කතුන් පිළිබඳව ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්ෂමා ආයතනය කරුණු හෙළිදරව් කිරීමෙන් පසු, එම රැඳවියන් පිළිබඳව සවුදි රජය සමග ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සාකච්ඡා කළ බවත් සෞදි අරාබියේ රැඳවුම් කඳවුරුවල හෙවත් බන්ධනාගාරවල සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කතුන් කඩිනමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට පියවර ගන්නා බව කම්කරු අමාත්‍ය නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා පවසයි.

The Ambassador of Afghanistan to Sri Lanka, M. Ashraf Haidari, briefed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the new chapter in US-Afghanistan relations.

On 21 April, the Sri Lanka-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Association meeting was held in the Parliament under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana and Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa. Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka Sugiyama Akira was invited to the meeting.

The World Bank yesterday signed agreements with the Government to boost key socio-economic infrastructure and development with fresh funding of $ 139 million (nearly Rs. 28 billion).

The Japanese government may declare a new state of emergency for the cities of Tokyo and Osaka in response to another surge of COVID-19 infections.

GENEVA (Reuters): Coronavirus vaccines remain out of reach in the poorest countries, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report on Friday, marking the first anniversary of the COVAX dose-sharing facility.

WASHINGTON - China is lashing out at the chief of the World Health Organization for suggesting that more study is needed into the possibility that the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic initially escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi sat down with VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem this week for an exclusive interview to discuss the impact on the region of the United States withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, how Pakistan sees its future relationship with its western neighbor, and whether putting forward a resolution in parliament to expel the French ambassador from the country, over French support for publication of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, is dangerous.

PENTAGON - The United States is positioning more firepower in the Middle East and South Asia to provide cover for U.S. troops as they prepare to leave Afghanistan.

NEW DELHI - Hospitals in India are running desperately short of beds, medical oxygen and key drugs for coronavirus treatment as a lethal second wave of the pandemic brings the country’s health care system to a breaking point.

Ambassador of Norway to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Trine Jøranli Eskedal with Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda and State Minister of Ornamental Fish, Inland Fish and Prawn Farming Kanchana Wijesekera

India set a global record in daily infections for a second straight day Friday as it struggles to provide oxygen and other emergency supplies to a growing number of COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breath.

මහජන චීන ජනරජයේ රාජ්‍ය මන්ත්‍රී හා ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍ය ජෙනරල් වෙයි ෆෙන්ග්හි මහතා ලබන 27 වැනිදා මෙරට නිල සංචාරයක නිරතවීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

We must not forget that the Russian Federation was amongst the first countries to assist Sri Lanka in establishing its industrial base, and at that time the three industrial projects, Ceylon Steel Corporation, along with Ceylon Tire Corporation and Ceylon Sugar Corporation, were established in Sri Lanka with the assistance of Soviet Union,” Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in Parliament recently.