In an effort to promote and safeguard the freedom of press and expression, the United Nations General Assembly has declared May 3 as World Press Freedom Day. This day aims to raise awareness of the significance of a free press and remind governments of their obligation to uphold and protect the right to freedom of expression, which is protected under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The first celebration of World Press Freedom Day was held in 1993, following a recommendation made by the General Conference of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). The date of May 3 was selected to commemorate the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of press freedom principles issued by African journalists in Windhoek, Namibia, in 1991.
Since then, the annual celebration of World Press Freedom Day has served as an important occasion for individuals and organizations around the world to come together and advocate for the right to freedom of expression and access to information. The day is marked by various events, including conferences, seminars, and debates, which aim to highlight the challenges faced by journalists and media organizations, as well as to discuss potential solutions to the issues at hand.
This year’s World Press Freedom Day theme is “Information as a Public Good,” which emphasizes the critical role that information plays in shaping public opinion and promoting accountability, transparency, and democracy. It also underscores the need to ensure that all individuals have access to accurate and reliable information, particularly in the age of digital media and misinformation.
In a statement released yesterday, the Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles, commended all political parties and organizations for conducting peaceful May Day rallies and demonstrations on May 1 to celebrate International Labour Day. He expressed his gratitude to all the Police officers who had worked tirelessly to ensure public safety during the events.
Minister Alles stated that a special security program had been launched at all venues where May Day celebrations and meetings were held to maintain law and order.
He also acknowledged the support of all political parties that participated in the events, highlighting their cooperation with the police officers without interfering with their duties.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Iran, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and the Association of Air Transport and Tourist Agencies in Iran, organized a media briefing session on “Emerging Trend of Destination Sri Lanka among Iran Tourists” at the Embassy premises in Tehran on 26 April 2023. The interactive media briefing event was attended by over 65 representatives from Iran tourism Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, travel associations, travel & tour operators, airlines, bloggers, TV & radio channels, travel and tourism media personnel.
Objective of the media briefing was to demonstrate the recent developments in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry and to recognize the efforts made by tourism stakeholders in Iran specially travel agencies, tour operators, airlines and media activists in achieving the recent tourism growth between the two countries. The media event was one of the Embassy’s key activities in 2023 to expand the two-way tourism floor between Sri Lanka and Iran with the aim of enhancing people-to-people contact.
Welcoming the special guests and tourism stakeholders to the event, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Iran, G.M.V. Wishwanath Aponsu emphasized the importance of tourism industry for Sri Lanka’s present economy and underlined that this industry was the first key sector to recover in the country after an unprecedented economic crisis post impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting more than 77% growth of tourist arrivals’ from Iran to Sri Lanka during the period of January to March 2023 than in 2022, the Sri Lankan envoy stressed that Iran was among the top ten tourism source markets in the month of March 2023 in Sri Lanka tourism.
In his speech, the Secretary General of the Asian Mayors Forum (AMF), Dr. Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh thanked Ambassador Wishwanath Aponsu for the invitation and expressed that his organization could create an interactive network and active, effective and structured cooperation among the AMF member cities in urban tourism. He further spoke of the role tourism plays in strengthening ties among different nations and urged media to engage more in tourism activities. The Chairman of the Association of Air Transport and Tourist Agencies of Iran, Hussein Rafiei appreciated Ambassador Aponsu’s uninterrupted effort for boosting tourism between the two countries and underscored that everyone should work collectively to expand the two-way tourism floor for the benefit of both nations.
The Embassy in its comprehensive detailed presentation showcased the multidimensional features of Sri Lanka as a must visit destination in the world, with a focus on areas of special interest specially to Iran travelers. Highlighting the most popular tourist locations in Sri Lanka and its unique features, an attractive tourism video clip with latest information on Sri Lanka tourism was also screened.
During the media briefing, Ambassador Wishwanath Aponsu presented awards for 15 selected top tourism stakeholders who facilitated to send highest number of tourists from Iran to Sri Lanka during the first quarter of 2023 as well as their contributions to promote the Sri Lanka tourism in Iran. While recalling the Embassy’s tourism promotion initiatives since 2021, he stated that the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Tehran expects the continued cooperation of all tourism stakeholders in Iran to further expand the existing relations in the field of tourism between the two countries.
In the presence of all participants, AMF Secretary General Dr. Hamidreza Gholamzadeh and Ambassador Wishwanath Aponsu together with special guests including Expert of the Iran Foreign Ministry Mohammad Deldari, Head (Foreign Tourism) of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Iran Hamid Eghbali and Chairman of the Association of Air Transport and Tourist Agencies Hussein Rafiei opened a Sri Lanka Tourism Information Center in the Embassy. The first-ever Tourism Information Center of the Embassy provides visitors more information on Sri Lanka tourism with brochures, maps and travel guides and updates of Sri Lanka tourism. The guests were treated to a reception with a serving of Ceylon Tea.
The Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, Mohan Pieris, was appointed by acclamation to the Presidency of the 21st session of the High Level Committee on South-South Cooperation at the organizational meeting held on 01 May 2023, in New York.
Accepting the Presidency from the outgoing President – Argentina, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka Mohan Pieris drew attention (to the fact that countries of the south have contributed to more than half of the world’s growth in recent years, with intra-south trade accounting for more than a quarter of all world trade, and the outflows of foreign direct investment from the south representing a third of the global flows.
Speaking of the continued relevance of this platform initiated in 1980, Ambassador Pieris added that south-south and triangular cooperation can be a major catalyst to help countries of the global south leapfrog in their development journey and adapt solutions to address climate, health, energy, food security and other challenges. He observed that the world was witnessing a notable shift in the landscape of development cooperation and that the era of one-way cooperation was a thing of the past as countries of the south are engaging in collaborative learning models to share sustainable and cost-efficient solutions to address development needs. Accordingly, Ambassador Pieris emphasized the need to go far beyond financial contributions and north-south technical assistance and that this change in context has resulted in an opportunity for the emergence of foreign relations where horizontal partnerships would be a spring-board to establish long-term relations based on trust.
Full speech is at:
The 21st session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation will be held under the theme “Accelerating the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through South-South and triangular cooperation,” and will be convened from 30 May to 2 June 2023. The High Level meeting will review progress made in implementing the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, New Directions Strategy for South-South cooperation, Nairobi outcome document of the High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation and the Buenos Aires outcome document of the second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40). The thematic discussion will have a strong focus on inter-regional sharing of solutions and knowledge.
Sri Lanka’s presidency of the 21st session of the High Level Committee will be supported by Vice-Presidents from Italy, Burundi and the Russian Federation and the Rapporteur from Barbados.
1. Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC, Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport on 1 May 2023 on a four-day official visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force. Air Vice Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa, Chief of Staff, Sri Lanka Air Force and Deputy High Commissioner of India, Mr. Vinod K. Jacob warmly welcomed Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on his arrival. During the visit, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari is scheduled to make courtesy calls on President H.E. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister H.E Dinesh Gunawardena, and have meetings with Minister of State for Defence, Defence Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff and Service Commanders.
2. The visit symbolises strong relations and close cooperation between the two friendly neighbours, with Sri Lanka being accorded the status of ‘Priority One’ partner by India. Underlining the strong bonds of friendship between the two services, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari would be laying the foundation stone for India- Sri Lanka Friendship Auditorium at Sri Lanka Air Force Academy, Trincomalee under 250 Million LKR Grant assistance by Government of India (GOI), in line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
3. As part of GOI’s commitment towards capacity building of Sri Lanka Armed Forces, Chief of Air Staff of Indian Air Force would be presenting AN-32 propellers to ensure high operational readiness of the aircraft held with Sri Lanka Air Force. He would also be interacting with students at the prestigious National Defence College, Sri Lanka and the Air Force Academy, China Bay, wherein training aids for the students would be gifted.
4. It may be recalled that in February 2021, at the invitation of Commander, Sri Lanka Air Force, a twenty two Aircraft contingent of the Indian Air Force had participated in the 70th Anniversary celebrations of Sri Lanka Air Force. In addition, Indian Air Force has been the first responder by deploying its assets expeditiously for providing 12T medical supplies in May 2020 and 100T Nano Fertilisers in November 2021.The visit of Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force would strengthen the existing relations between the two countries and facilitate discussions on common security challenges and enhancing capacity and capability building initiatives towards ensuring Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), as propounded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It has been noticed that some fake / fraudulent web URLs (list enclosed) are offering Indian e-Visa. Therefore, applicants are advised not to use these fake URLs for obtaining Indian e-Visa.
Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lankan rubber product export industry is experiencing revenue decline by around 15-20% Year-on-Year (YoY) in 2023, amidst the economic troubles in the West.
This was mainly due to the economic troubles faced by the EU and the US, which were the main markets of the Sri Lankan rubber product export industry.
The Sri Lanka Association of Manufacturers and Exporters of Rubber Products (SLAMERP) forecast for the rest of the year is based on what has been observed in the actual numbers. Forecasts stand unless drastic changes take place, such as a market change. However, that is unlikely.
The (SLAMERP) in a statement said that the value-added rubber export sector has seen a 10% revenue decline in the first three months of 2023 from $ 251 million to $ 231 million.
The declining trend has been seen from 2022 in which year a near 20% revenue reduction to $ 1 billion was recorded from $ 1.2 billion in 2021.
SLAMERP DG Rohan Masakorala said forward order books too have dropped considerably, and the number of factories have reduced production capacity or are having temporary shutdowns, as both external demand and domestic demand has come down drastically.
Although the input costs too have gone down, the buyers are continuously asking for price reductions to place new orders, he added.
According to Masakorala Europe has seen a drastic downturn in orders, while the US remained stagnant in the first quarter of 2023.
On the global front, the demand is coming down due to high inventory with buyers and also the recessionary pressures linked to inflation and interest rate hikes which are affecting the total global supply chain.
SLAMERP also expressed concern that the only positive factor they had was the global freight which peaked in the last two years, was coming down due to market forces, but locally the shipping ministry has taken decisions to artificially inflate freight rates by allowing unbundling of the freight to avoid market forces by removing a competition Gazette that was originally introduced in 2013.
SLAMERP said that they are confident that President Ranil Wickremesinghe whom they have spoken to will fix this issue.
The industry also said that the Government must focus on supporting the export industry to grow, encourage new export diversification and make the national export strategy be implemented along with the rubber master plan which had been neglected.
The country’s economic problems have to be resolved by strengthening the export sector with every possible support extended by all line ministries, SLAMERP DG emphasized.
Colombo (LNW): ‘China Merchants’ to invest US$ 392 million in SA’s largest logistics hub in SL.
A Chinese state-owned firm said on Monday it plans to take its investment in Sri Lanka to US $2 billion by building South Asia’s largest logistics hub.
The investment by the China Merchants Group in a large logistics complex at Colombo Port, with an estimated construction cost of $392 million, is the first major foreign investment in Sri Lanka since the default.
The logistics centre project will take CMG’s “accumulated investment in Sri Lanka to… over 2 billion US dollars, making it the largest foreign investment enterprise in the island”, the company said in a statement on Monday.
CMG will have a 70 percent stake in the company set up to build the logistics complex at Colombo, the only deep-sea port between Dubai and Singapore.
Describing the project as South Asia’s largest logistics hub, CMG said it expects to complete it by the end of 2025. CMG also manages the port complex at Hambantota on the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
That port was considered among the white-elephant projects launched by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ruled the country for a decade until 2015.
Rajapaksa borrowed heavily from China for projects that many criticised as a debt trap that led to the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s history.
Unable to repay a huge loan taken from China in 2017 to build Hambantota port, Sri Lanka handed it over to CMG for $1.12 billion on a 99-year lease.
Neighbouring India as well as the United States have also expressed concern about China gaining a naval advantage in the Indian Ocean with its access to Sri Lanka’s ports.Sri Lanka has insisted that its ports will not be used for any military purposes.
Sri Lanka’s strategic location among the main marine and air navigation routes within the South Asian region makes the country a lucrative destination for entrepot and logistic development.
The country’s close proximity to emerging markets, and it’s already developed air and seaports in Colombo and Hambantota makes it an important logistics hub in the region providing entrepot and transhipment services to leading shipping lines and exporters.
During the last five years, the World Shipping Council has consecutively ranked Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port among Top 50 World Container Ports above other South Asia ports based on the volume of the containers handled.
Sri Lankan logistics services contribute 2.5% of gross domestic product, which represents around USD 2 billion. Logistics services include container trucking, warehousing, ports and shipping, but exclude domestic transport of passengers, fisheries and interregional domestic cargo transportation.
The total share of logistics in national exports is estimated at 7%. The industry provides full-time direct employment to over 40,000–50,000 people.
Around 70% of registered service providers are of local origin while the rest are multinational. Currently, there are 130 shipping agencies and 120 freight forwarders in associations, and 500+ companies registered with the Merchant Shipping Secretariat (MSS), which also includes clearing agents.
Colombo (LNW): The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will be broken into fourteen (14) privately-owned enterprises under the proposed amendments of the Electricity Act, announced the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL).
Despite counterarguments on privatising state-owned bodies, the loss-incurring state-run power supplier is set to be broken into 14 private enterprises under the new law.
The Norochcholai Coal Power Plant and all hydro-power stations including the Mahaweli and Lakshapana plants will be among the bodies to be privatised, revealed PUCSL Chief Janaka Ratnayake.
The new restructuring of the CEB will also follow the establishment of a new Electricity Commission governed by the Minister of Power and Energy to oversee the CEB, replacing the PUCSL, he added.
Meanwhile, a new company will also be established to manage the power supplier’s Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) and pension funds, Ratnayake revealed.
