International Affairs

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday called for debt relief and fiscal stimulus for middle-income countries, including Sri Lanka, noting that the COVID-19 outbreak has created an unprecedented challenge for a large number of developing countries.

Gearing up for the much needed COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organisation this week organised a meeting of vaccine manufacturers and national regulatory authorities from its Southeast Asia region.

විදේශ සබඳතා නිපු‍ණතා සංවර්ධන, රැකී රක්ෂා හා කම්කරු අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ නේවාසික නියෝජිත හානා සින්ගර් සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර කම්කරු සංවිධානයේ මෙරට අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා සිම්රින් සිංග් හමුවී තිබෙනවා.

Australia has extended its support to Sri Lanka prepare for, and prevent, the spread of COVID-19, and to manage the social and economic impacts to come.

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters): Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave a robust defence on Friday of his and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) "timely" actions in declaring COVID-19 an international health emergency at the end of January.

කොවිඩ්මරණ වළක්වා ගැනීමට වියට්නාමයට හැකියාව ලැබී ඇත්තේ එරටේම නිෂ්පාදනයක් වන කෘත්‍රිම පෙණහලු යන්ත්‍ර රෝගීන් සඳහා භාවිත කිරීම නිසා බව විදෙස් පුවත් සේවා පවසයි.

හදිසි අවස්ථාවන්හිදී ක්‍රියාත්මක වන හොදම කණ්ඩායම සහිත ලෝකයේ දෙවන හමුදාව ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුධ හමුදාව ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානය විසින් නම් කර ඇති බව යුධ හමුදාපති ලුතිනන් ජනරාල් ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා පවසයි.

Sri Lanka will be seeking at least US$ 2 billion in financial contributions from foreign donors and International lending agencies for medium-term external debt, servicing and rebuild the economy.

Si Lanka’s network of 67 Foreign Missions is assisting and facilitating Sri Lankan expatriates in need during Covid-19 crisis period, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha said.

India today reiterated its commitment to continue its people-oriented development partnership with Sri Lanka, as per Sri Lanka’s own requirements. Head of Economic and Commercial Wing, High Commission of India, Ms. Suja K. Menon said.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah received Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Kuwait Othman Jawhar yesterday, Thursday, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

The Pakistan High Commission in Colombo coordinated with the government of Pakistan and the local Sri Lankan authorities for the successful return of 50 stranded Pakistanis.

A new high-pressure ventilator developed by NASA engineers and tailored to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) patients today was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use under the FDA’s March 24 ventilator Emergency Use Authorization.

Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka David Holly and Australian Defence Adviser Group Captain Sean Unwin yesterday handed over Australian supplied Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Head of National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak

කොවිඩ් – 19 වෛරසයට එරෙහිව චීනය අත්හදා බලමින් සිටින ප්‍රධානතම එන්නතේ පළමු සායනික අත්හදා බැලීමේ පියවර සාර්ථක බව එරට නිල පුවත් සේවය වන ෂිංහුවා (Xinhua) ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.

A final report by the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) says Sri Lanka’s 2019 Presidential Election was well-managed and transparent but urges greater inclusivity in future.

China has offered to help Sri Lanka rebuild the economy which has suffered as a result of the coronavirus.

GENEVA (Reuters): The UN human rights office voiced concern yesterday about more than a dozen countries that have declared states of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic where Police have arrested or detained hundreds of thousands of people and killed others.