Austria has pledged to assist Sri Lanka in removing the European Union’s ban on fishery exports and regain the GSP+ trade concession reports Colombo Page. President Sirisena who arrived in Vienna for a two day visit on Friday, met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer. The two counterparts agreed to increase economic cooperation and with the Austrian president pledging to help Sri Lanka regain GSP+ trade concession from the EU. “The new government of Sri Lanka is now carrying out the program to build the coexistence and reconciliation in the country by fulfilling the responsibilities of a...
Sri Lanka and Germany agreed to strengthen bilateral relations by signing an array of agreements that covered education, language, museology, heritage and art conservation, higher education and sports, reports Colombo Page. The two sides also agreed to foster and improve the volume of Sri Lanka’s exports to Germany. The agreement followed President Sirisena’s visit to Berlin. In the run-up to his visit Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Germany alleged that the nation would initiate a resolution to support the reinstatement of the GSP+ trade concession to Sri Lanka. Germany to initiate resolution to...
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterating his commitment to signing a trade agreement with India called any one that opposed it a ‘traitor.’ Speaking to reporters in Hambantota, Sri Lanka’s prime minister said, “I will tell you one thing. We will take this agreement forward. We have a majority in parliament.” The prime minister has faced strong opposition to signing a bi-lateral trade agreement with India and enhancing further trade ties with the neighbouring nation. India framework agreement not finalised says Sri Lanka minister (25 Jan 2016) Sri Lanka to finalise India trade agreement by mid-2016 announces ministry (30 Dec 2015) See our editorial: Sri Lanka’s Indophobia (07 Aug 2015)
A World Bank Report entitled ‘ Sri Lanka: Ending Poverty and Promoting Shared Prosperity ’ found that the Tamil North-East stood out as regions with high concentrations of poverty. The report found that Sri Lanka’s Tamils “had the highest rates of poverty among ethnic groups,” with double the poverty rate of the ethnic Sinhala community on the island. “Poverty rates are highest in portions of the Northern and Eastern provinces, which were at the center of the conflict,” said the World Bank comparing the regions to national and international poverty levels. The report further highlighted that...
The Sri Lankan military led the government's operation to combat dengue fever by inspecting house by house across the North-East, said locals. The army in Jaffna, the air force in Batticaloa and the navy in Puttalam engaged in inspection activities this month. Visiting every house the military asked for lists of those living in the household as well as carrying out a full inspection of the property and lands.
Fishermen in Tamil Nadu on Saturday threatened to "lay siege" to Sri Lanka's Deputy High Commission in Chennai on February 29, in protest at the ongoing arrests and detention of fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy. The decision came after a meeting between fishermen from Tuticorin, Kanyakumari, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Karaikal, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram, PTI reported. "Seventy eight fishing boats have been seized by Sri Lankan naval personnel in 2015 and had not been released yet. The boats are valued at between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh each, depending on their size," the president of the Nagapattinam fishermen's group, Mr Rajendran was quoted by PTI as saying.
A Northern Province councillor with the Tamil National Alliance was attacked in Vavuniya by unidentified assailants on Thursday night. Ramanathan Indrarajah, a councillor for he Vavuniya district, was on his way home on a motorcycle, ridden by NPC Councillor Pichchaimuththu Nadarajah, when the assailants rode up to them and hit the councillor on the back of his head with a metal bat. Mr Indrarajah was taken to hospital with injuries to his head, by TNA MP Sivasakthy Ananthan, who was following the motorcycle and witnessed the attack. The injuries are not reported to be serious.
A resolution passed by members of the Northern Provincial Council as well as Sri Lankan government representatives on Thursday called for the urgent resettlement of displaced persons in Valikaamam North who have remained displaced for over 25 years. The resolution was adopted at an emergency meeting held at the Jaffna District Secretariat on Thursday, which included the chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran, the state minister of children's affairs. Vijayakala Maheswaran, the northern provincial council chairman, C V K Sivagnanam. A copy of the resolution, has been sent to...
The Centre of Policy Alternatives (CPA) this week filed a Fundamental Rights petition against the Sri Lankan government's appointment of the former army commander, Sarath Fonseka as an MP. The CPA is seeking an interim order to prohibit Field Marshall Fonseka as serving as a MP, on the grounds that he was not in the national list or a member of the main ruling party, the United National Party (UNP) at the time of the election. See here .
The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), a constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), was taken to Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Thursday, over charges of espousing ‘separatism’. The Supreme Court heard a petition filed against the Secretary General of the party, Mavai S. Senathirajah, claiming that since the ITAK constitution did not explicitly reject a separate state for the Tamil people, it was supporting separatism. TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran appeared for Mr Senathirajah. The sixth amendment of Sri Lanka’s constitution outlaws any support for the establishment of a separate...