International Affairs

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.

The Maldives said that it is keen to work closely with the new Sri Lankan Government.

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.

Sri Lanka has told China and India to respect its identity as a sovereign nation.

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.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid is to visit Sri Lanka to have talks with the new Government.

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.

Clarifying the UK's Conservative Party’s stance with regard to its reference to Sri Lanka in its election manifesto, senior party officials said the reference is applicable only to the Middle East but not to Cyprus or Sri Lanka.

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

The Australian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka David Holly called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.

එල්ටිටිඊ ත්‍රස්ත සංවිධානය අපරාධ සංවිධානයක් නොවන බවට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත ෆෙඩරල් අධිකරණය තීන්දු කර තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව එරට නීතිපති කාර්යාලය විසින් චෝදනා ගොනු කර තිබුණු පුද්ගලයින් 12 දෙනෙක් අද (03) දිනයේදී නිදොස් කොට නිදහස් කර ඇති බවයි එරට මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා කර සිටියේ.

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.

පසුගියදා ඉන්දුනීසියාවේ ජකාර්තා නුවරදී පැවැති ආසියානු නවෝත්පාදන සමුළුවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාද සහභාගී විය.

US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz yesterday assured to extend support to be part of Sri Lanka’s rising tide, particularly in the areas of partnerships, regulatory consistency, political stability, and rule of law, to boost Sri Lanka’s competitiveness.