International Affairs

UN climate talks in Madrid enter their final scheduled day with divisions emerging between major emitting countries and small island states.

A high level Asia Pacific Cooperative executive committee session opened in Colombo on 12 December-with significant emphasis on engagement of youth for cooperatives.

Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte says a Resident Mission will be opened in Colombo in 2020.

Sri Lanka is mulling to establish closer ties with Korea to promote technology transfers and sharing of technical know how, including internship opportunities as measures to foster cooperation on innovation between the two countries.

LONDON — As Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi addressed the International Court of Justice in The Hague this week, many former supporters watched in dismay as the Nobel peace laureate denied accusations that Myanmar's military conducted atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim population.

The Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Convention on Biological Weapons, which concluded its four day session in Geneva has unanimously endorsed Sri Lanka as the Chair of the Meeting of States Parties to be held in 2020.

India has announced a USD 100 million credit line to develop solar projects in Sri Lanka. Both India and Sri Lanka have also been jointly funding research programmes in Science & Technology for close to a decade and are partners in South Asia satellite which aids socio-economic development and welfare needs of the region through tele-education, tele-medicine, disaster management support etc.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Motegi Toshimitsu is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from 12-14 December with a view to further strengthening the bilateral relationship between Japan and Sri Lanka with the new Government of Sri Lanka.

There is some truth to social media reports that claim UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has been nominated for the post of UN Secretary General, confirmed MP John Amaratunge.

ඊයේ (12) පැවති බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මහ මැතිවරණයෙන් අගමැති බොරිස් ජොන්සන්ගේ කන්සවේටිව් පක්ෂයට විශිෂ්ට ජයග්‍රහණයක් අත් වේ.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is to visit Sri Lanka and Spain from December 14-17, 2019, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said today.

The National Investigation Agency on Saturday filed a charge sheet against two Islamic State operatives including the leader of the outfit’s Coimbatore module - Mohammed Azarudeen and his associate - Sheikh Hidayatullah, who were in touch with the April 21 Sri Lanka bombings mastermind - Maulvi Zahran bin Hashim and were planning to carry out similar strikes in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Hindustan Times reported.

UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer, met with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday and has discussed peace and reconciliation including the challenges and the way forward.

Envoys belonging to the Middle East Ambassadors’ Forum called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretary yesterday. Congratulating President Rajapaksa on his recent victory, they assured their continued support and co-operation to the new government in the economic and cultural spheres.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will review the policies of the new Government and steps it will take with regard to past agreements with the global body.
The former Government had reached an agreement with the IMF, resulting in the disbursement of IMF funds for Sri Lanka under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Among the economic measures implemented by the former Government in line with IMF expectations was a fuel pricing formula.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena requested SAARC member countries to take concrete action to improve intra-trade in the region without compromising security concerns.

Sri Lanka’s Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Industries (COSMI) and two trade associations of The Chinese province of Sichuan and its reputed Mianyang city have signed Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) to improve bilateral ties on trade and investment in Colombo on Monday 9.

ඇමරිකාවෙන් එන සියලුම දේට විරුද්ධ වීමට තරම් කුහකකමක් හෝ මෝඩකමක් තමන් තුළ නොමැති බව පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමය පක්ෂයේ නායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා පවසයි.