International Affairs

Commend Sri Lankans, Election Commission on largely peaceful, orderly election
Say 84% voter turnout impressive, wants more women candidates
Say mechanisms needed to regulate campaign finance, ensure even playing field
Concerned by hate speech through private media, social media
Recommend independent self-regulatory system for broader media landscape
Recommend improving access to polling booths for disabled voters

After the Easter Sunday attacks that killed over 250 people and injured hundreds in April in Sri Lanka, there was a rejuvenation of interfaith harmony in the country, a senior Sri Lankan official told the Emirates News Agency, WAM.

Sri Lanka Government has under utilized foreign loan provisions amounting to to Rs.1,350 million allocated for Kankasanthurai Harbour development and therefore delaying the planned development activities of the port , official progress report revealed.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with the visiting Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar yesterday. India's High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu is also present.

The US yesterday said it was looking forward to working with President-elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa in support of a strong and sovereign Sri Lanka.

Over 3400 Kms of rural roads and 340 kms of national highways will be developed under the Second Integrated Road Investment Program funded by the ADB.

The United States Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today to ensure accountability.

Indian government has stepped into offer under graduate , post graduate and research/ PHD scholarships for Sri Lanka's eligible students for studying in India.

A Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is seen as a vital aspect in propelling Sri Lanka’s economic growth to the next level. Even on political platforms, the presidential candidates vow continually to attract FDIs if they are elected to office.

The Iranian foreign ministry in a statement on Monday congratulated Gotabaya Rajapaksa for winning the presidential election in Sri Lanka and hoped for the further expansion of relations between the two countries.

Sri Lanka has sought to invigorate and enhance bilateral trade relations with Nepal.

Five EU Parliamentarians have joined an EU Election Observer Mission deployed to Sri Lanka to observe the 2019 Presidential election.

China on Monday congratulated Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his election as Sri Lankan President, saying it is ready to work with him for “greater progress” in bilateral strategic ties and ensure “high-quality” projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Press Trust of India reported.

ඇමෙරිකානු පුරවැසියන්ට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරය කිරීමේදී පනවා තිබූ 2 වැනි මට්ටමේ සංචාරක අවදානම තවදුරටත් එලෙසම පවතින බව එක්සත් ජනපද තානාපති කාර්යාලය පවසයි.

Given Sri Lanka’s experience in the recent past in low and high-intensity conflicts with terrorist groups, only a few countries can qualitatively match the troops sent by Sri Lanka, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha said.

Though the 16 November presidential election was largely peaceful and “technically well-managed”, unregulated campaign spending, abuse of state resources and media bias resulted in an uneven playing field, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) concluded.

A Chinese Navy ship arrived in Sri Lanka today on an official visit, the Sri Lanka Navy said.

මාලි රාජ්‍යයේ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සාම සාධක හමුදා රාජකාරී සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුධ හමුදාවේ 243 ක භට පිරිසක් අද (13) දින අලුයම කටුනායක ගුවන් තොටුපළෙන් පිටත්ව ගියා.