Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United Arab Emirates Udaya Indrarathna presented credentials to Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on 06 February 2023 at a ceremony held at the Qasr Al Watan, the President’s Palace in Abu Dhabi. Another 15 Ambassadors including France, Italy, Canada, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar also presented credentials at the same event.

Ambassador Indrarathna conveyed felicitations and greetings from President Ranil Wickremesinghe to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed. The Ambassador reiterated the commitment of the government of Sri Lanka to further strengthen friendly relations with the UAE with special focus on cooperation in the political, trade and investment sectors.

Accepting the credentials His Highness Sheikh Mohammed said that the UAE Government will provide the support needed for the newly appointed ambassadors to perform their duties as part of the country’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and several other high level dignitaries.

Embassy of Sri Lanka
Abu Dhabi
16 February 2023

Speaker of the House of Commons The Right Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, was the Chief Guest at the reception to commemorate Sri Lanka’s 75th Anniversary of Independence organised by the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London on 8 February 2023.

Members of the Houses of Parliament, Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, Heads of Missions and members of the Diplomatic community, representatives of the British business community and friends and well-wishers were amongst the invitees to celebrate this special occasion.

The guests were treated to Sri Lankan cuisine and beverages, Ceylon ‘yara’ tea and Sri Lankan palmyrah products. The guests were also entertained by artists of Sri Lankan heritage who are cast members of West End theatre productions of ‘Hamilton’, ‘Juliet’ ‘Amelie’ and ‘Life of Pi’ Roshani Abbey and Nuwan Hugh Perera. The highlight of the evening was the Sri Lankan Airlines raffle draw and the winner, Lord J.D. Waverley took away two return tickets to Colombo.

The event, which was sponsored by BoardPac Ltd, De La Rue, Lion Beer, Elephant House beverages, Munchee Biscuits, Basilur Tea, Baraka, Silver Mill, Wichy Plantation, Jenvas Ltd, Palmyra Development Board, Traccular, Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and Sri Lankan Airlines, was used as a platform to promote Sri Lankan products, food and beverages as well as Sri Lanka tourism.

High Commission of Sri Lanka

London

16 February 2023

A special delegation from Israel visiting Sri Lanka has assured the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara, that their country will offer 2000 job opportunities for female caregivers from Sri Lanka, this year.
The delegation comprising Shiely Raisin Sason, director of Israel’s Population and Migration Institute and members Zindani Mary, Yaccow Kabilau, Margarita Gaorodnitsky among others met Minister Manusha Nanayakkara today. The minister during the meeting requested from the delegation to provide more job opportunities to caregivers from Sri Lanka and in response the delegation assured the Minister that their country will recruit 2000 female caregivers from Sri Lanka this year.

The delegation pointed out that according to the existing culture in Israel, women have more opportunities for patient care, and the number of opportunities for male caregivers is very limited, and accordingly, the delegation also requested the Minister to give priority to females when providing training in the caregiver sector in the future.
The delegation also pointed out the importance of accelerating the recruitment process for caregiver jobs. Accordingly, the Minister assured the delegation that only those who meet the relevant qualifications will be recruited for training. Here, the Israeli delegation informed the minister that Sri Lankan workers with English language proficiency, who have received professional training, will always get the opportunity for Israeli employment opportunities.
The delegation said their country is ready to give opportunities up to 8000 qualified workers on an annual basis.

Both parties pointed out the importance of recruiting workers through a transparent process. The minister pointed out that some private recruiters are acting like a mafia in the process of recruiting caregivers to work in Israel. The minister also clarified the facts about the allegations against some Sri Lankans in Israel regarding the recruitment process. The Minister also mentioned that there are allegations that some people are taking money for providing Israeli jobs.

The Minister also presented to the Israeli representatives the requests to open up the opportunities to hire caregivers for jobs in Israel by the private sector as well. Responding the delegation said that the process of recruiting caregivers should be carried out only with the intervention of the Foreign Employment Bureau.
The delegation from the Population and Migration Institution of Israel requested that any information regarding people who are taking money to provide caregiver jobs in Israel should be given to them to take necessary action. They also assured that the security and confidentiality of the persons giving such information will be fully protected. The delegation also assured that maximum action will be taken according to Israeli law against people who take money through the recruitment process.

The minister also mentioned that the safety of workers who leave for work abroad is always a high priority and added that there have been no allegations of harassment of workers who have left for work in Israel. The minister expressed his thanks to Israel in that regard.

In this discussion, the minister also asked the Israeli delegation that since there are many trained professionals in the country for jobs in the agricultural sector, it would be better if they were given an opportunity for that as well. Here, the Israeli delegation stated that they are not able to open jobs in the agricultural sector at this time, and that necessary steps will be taken in the future.

manusha media

Sri Lanka plans to double tourist arrivals to 1.5 million this year and bring in US$ 5 billion in vital foreign exchange, the Tourism Minister said, as the island nation seeks ways to tackle its worst financial crisis in seven decades.

The country of 22 million people, famed for its beaches, ancient temples and aromatic tea, has been struggling for months to pay for essential imports of fuel, food and medicine because of a lack of foreign exchange.

“Tourism can play a major role in Sri Lanka’s recovery and this is what we are aiming for next year,” Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said. .

Tourist arrivals to destination Sri Lanka have crossed the 50,000 mark for the first two weeks of February, refreshing hopes for a faster recovery in the tourism sector, which is a key source of foreign exchange to the dollar-starved economy.

According to provisional data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), for February 1 to 14, a total of 54,685 international visitors entered the country.

When compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, arrivals had expanded by about 15 percent. In 2022, from February 1 to 14, Sri Lanka saw 47,282 tourists entering the country.

The cumulative arrivals for the 1 January to 14 February period stood at 157,230, which is a 21 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) increase. In 2022, the cumulative tourist arrivals for the same period stood at 129,609.

Weekly analysis of the tourist arrivals numbers too shows an improvement. While week one of February (1 – 7) welcomed 26,506 international visitors, week two saw the number increasing to 28,179.

Emerging as the largest tourist traffic generator for Sri Lanka was the Russian Federation as it accounted for 26 percent of the total arrivals for the first two weeks of February.

India ranked as the second bringing in 12 percent of the total arrivals.The United Kingdom (UK) stood as the third largest contributor for Sri Lanka tourism, bringing in 9 percent of the total arrivals.

To realise the monthly arrivals target of 105,000 tourist arrivals set by the Ministry of Tourism, Sri Lanka would need to lure in 50,135 more international travelers by February 28.

Which means for the coming two weeks the island nation would need to have a daily arrival average of 3,581. For the first two weeks of February, the daily arrival average was 3,906. As of 14 February, 52 percent of the monthly tourist arrival target was realized.

Dudley Sirisena, the owner of Araliya Rice Business, says that although the farmers should be given a price of more than 140 rupees for a kilo of paddy, in the end, according to the government’s request, the owners of large-scale rice mills, including himself, agreed to buy a kilo of paddy at 100 rupees.

Dudley Sirisena said this yesterday (16) while speaking to the media after a discussion with President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Yesterday (16) the officials of the Bribery or Corruption Investigation Commission have arrested 04 people who took bribes for issuing a foreign passport under the one-day service.

An office assistant of the Immigration Department and three brokers have been arrested.

They have taken 42000 rupees from one person for providing a foreign passport under the one-day service.

It is said that the cost of obtaining a foreign passport under that service is only 22000 rupees and the remaining 20000 rupees have been shared by the four of them.

According to the complaints received that various irregularities are happening around the Foreign Passport Office of the Immigration Department located in Battaramulla, a special police team has also been deployed as per the instructions of the Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles to prevent such acts and the operations to arrest the brokers are ongoing.

1. President Ranil Wickremesinghe issues a directive to the Power and Energy Minister and the relevant CEB officials to implement the electricity tariff revision ensuring an uninterrupted power supply for the consumers, provide relief for low-income families and provide solar rooftop systems for religious places and state-run education bodies.
   
2. President of Restaurant Owners’ Association and Consumer Rights Activist Asela Sampath says the price of a packet of rice, fried rice and kottu will soar by 10 per cent in order to maintain the restaurants and in response to the recent electricity tariff hike by 66 per cent; apologises to the people for the move; asserts the increase in food price is to protest against the tariff revisions.
   
3. Kollupitiya Police seal the office of PUCSL Chief Janaka Ratnayake as ordered by the Fort Magistrate Court, based on information that his office is carrying out activities embarrassing the government.
   
4. Former Election Commission Chairman and current Delimitation Committee Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya says despite the estimated Rs. 08 billion required for the upcoming LG Polls, 60 per cent of election cost ought to be paid only after the Polls; asserts the LG Polls can be conducted and concluded within a limit of Rs. 02 billion.
   
5. Sea Leisure Yachting Group and the Board of Investment Sri Lanka hold discussion on marine tourism solutions to be implemented in Sri Lanka: SLYG Chief Pierre Pringiers meets with BOI counterpart Dinesh Weerakkody and discusses promoting marine leisure and yacht manufacturing and expanding businesses.
   
6. China’s demand of forcing multilateral lenders to provide debt relief to Sri Lanka as part of a broader restructuring of debts is now at odds with other major creditors: Official sources lament with China yet to support Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring based on the debt sustainability analysis of the IMF and Paris Club, the deadline is nearing to secure a much-needed loan to revive from the economic meltdown: Analysts warn China’s demand is likely to further delay the debt restructuring process to unlock the IMF’s US $2.9 bailout package.
   
7. Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda says Sri Lanka and India will sign a pact to link their power grids and start negotiations on an upgraded trade agreement within two months: The move comes in as part of the island nation’s attempt to seek a way out of its economic crisis: Despite India’s US $4 billion assistance since last year, Sri Lanka is now seeking to enhance trade and investments as it moves to close a US $2.9 billion deal from the IMF.
   
8. Ex Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves for Myanmar on a private tour, following an invitation by several social activist organisations in the Buddhist country.
   
9. The Colombo District Court orders popular Actor Ruchini Tanasha Hatharasingha to return the property given to her by her grandmother, who she was adopted by as a child, and pay her a compensation of Rs. 05 million and a monthly allowance of Rs. 30,000 until the property is legally handed over: Court concludes Hatharasingha had mistreated her grandmother.
   
10. NPP/JVP Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake accuses the President of unleashing a ‘psychological war’ to orchestrate public opinion that a country lacking money for medicines and surgeries cannot afford to hold an election; stresses the President’s shameless efforts to quash the LG Polls are ‘similar to the Easter Sunday Carnage,’ as the downfall in the Health Sector backed by the imperative to secure power also leads to fatalities.