A helicopter crashed near a kindergarten outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, causing casualties, the region’s governor said Wednesday.
Sixteen people including Ukraine’s interior minister and other senior ministry officials were killed, the national police chief said.
The governor of the Kyiv region said earlier on Wednesday that a helicopter crashed near a nursery and a residential building earlier on Wednesday.
Two children were among the dead and 10 of them were in hospital, officials said.
Sri Lanka, a lower-middle-income country, is facing an acute crisis following the impact of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and other compounding factors that have profoundly affected the country and jeopardized progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite important progress made for children over the past decades across most dimensions, many children do not have an adequate standard of living and significant inequalities have been aggravated by the current crisis, which has disproportionally affected urban daily wage labourers, and families from poor households in the estate sector1, rural areas and the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
UNICEF is taking urgent action by supporting emergency measures in the short term that safeguard children and mitigate a worsening situation, while also supporting the State to recover and expand services in the medium term.
Tea exports fetch little over US$ 1.2bn in 2022, down US$ 65.7mn from previous year while export volumes lowest in 25 years; fertilizer crisis and banning of herbicides cited as key reasons.
Earnings from Sri Lanka’s tea exports contracted 5 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) or by US$ 65.7 million to US$ 1.259 billion in 2022 due to reduced quantities shipped to importing markets, Sri Lanka Tea board sources revealed.
However, tea exports earnings in rupee terms rose to a record high of Rs.411 billion, mainly due to the steep depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar.
The weekly economic indicators released by the Central Bank in the first week of January showed that during 2022, the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated by 45 percent against the US dollar.
The Lankan rupee also depreciated by 41.4 percent against the euro, 38.6 percent against the Indian rupee, and 38.1 percent against the sterling pound during 2022.
In terms of volumes, Sri Lanka exported a total of 250.2 MnKgs of tea in 2022, a 12.5 percent decline when compared with the volumes shipped in 2021 (285.9 MnKgs).
According to Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB), “netting a revenue marginally less than 2021 shows the continued high demand for Ceylon Tea”.
However, tea exports in 2022 were the lowest in 25 years. In 1997, a volume of 247 MnKgs was shipped. Since then, the annual exports have been rising, recording the highest ever quantity of 327 million kilos in 2014.
“Sri Lanka’s tea export volume is directly related to production. The 2022 production figures, which are expected shortly, will be one of the lowest in recent times.
The harvest was affected due to many shortcomings experienced since 2021, the fertilizer crisis and the banning of herbicides being among the main contributory factors,” SLTB said.
Meanwhile, the annual FOB unit price of US$ 5.03 per kilo for 2022 compared to US$ 4.63 per kg in 2021 confirms the distinct preference for Ceylon Tea, SLTB added.
Sri Lanka’s Tea exports for 2022 earned a record Rs. 411 billion but posted a dip of $ 65.7 million as against previous year’s performance.
Sri Lanka Tea Board said export revenue for 2022 was $ 1.259 billion compared with $ 1.324 billion in 2021.
“Although the volume exported last year was only 250.2 million kilos, recording a 12.5% decline in comparison to 285.9 million kilos shipped in 2021, netting a revenue marginally less than 2021 shows the continued high demand for Ceylon Tea,” SLTB said
Thailand has determined to accelerate negotiations on a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka, aiming to finish the talks by the beginning of 2024.
According to Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, during the third round of FTA talks held during Jan 9-10 in Colombo in Sri Lanka after four long years , the two countries agreed on a timeframe to conclude the negotiations by the beginning of 2024.
The third round of negotiations was supposed to take place in 2018, but the discussions were put on hold for four years due to the pandemic and the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s negotiations-related agencies.
According to Mrs Auramon, during the third round of talks the trade negotiating committees of the two nations focused on rules on bilateral trade in goods and services, rules of origin, investment, customs procedures, and trade facilitation.
In addition, the meeting updated the negotiation plans and set a timeframe to conclude the talks within 1-2 years.
Thailand has successfully concluded the second free trade area (FTA) negotiations with Sri Lanka recently in a bid to strengthen the economic partnership between the two countries, according to the Department of Trade…
A team from Thailand had arrived in Sri Lanka for talks on a free trade agreement which is planned to be implemented by the first quarter of 2024, the President’s office said.
The delegation headed by Auramon Supthaweethum, Director General of the Department of Trade Negotiations of Thailand held talks with Sri Lanka officials on January 09 and 10.
The talks dealt with trade in goods and services, investment rules, customs co-operation and trade facilitation and economic co-operation.
In 2021 Sri Lanka had exported US$59 million worth of goods to Thailand and its imports increased to $355 million.
Between January and November last year, the value of Thai-Sri Lankan trade stood at US$334.31 million (about 11.2 billion baht), Bangkok Post reported.
Thailand exported goods worth US$253 million to Sri Lanka, such as natural rubber, clothes, gems, ornaments, plastic pellets, machines and their parts.
Meanwhile, Thailand imported goods worth US$ 81.31 million from Sri Lanka, such as gems, diamonds, machine parts, clothes, plants and its products and chemicals, it added.
.A trade negotiations committee under President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office, the Foreign Ministry, Trade and Food Security Ministry, the Trade and Investment Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Commerce represented Sri Lanka at negotiations.
The Thailand FTA was a first step to join the RCEP trade agreement and a step towards strengthening traditional ties with Thailand, the President’s office said.
On the sidelines of the International Ombudsman Conference 2023, the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) of Sri Lanka and Ombudsman Institution of Türkiye has entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 11 January 2023 in Ankara.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Office Ombudsman of Sri Lanka and Ombudsman Institution of Türkiye was signed in the presence of the Speaker of the Parliament of Türkiye Mustafa Şentop, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Türkiye Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake, Ombudsman of Sri Lanka Justice (Retd.) K. T. Chitrasiri, and Chief Ombudsman of Türkiye Şeref Malkoç. Ombudsman of Sri Lanka Parliament and Chief Ombudsman of Türkiye signed the MoU.
The main objective of the MoU is to focus on the role of the two institutions in Sri Lanka and Türkiye in the field of protection of human rights and remedies for injustices while protecting citizens from injustice and discrimination. It further creates organizational conditions for cooperation between the two parties in the field of protection of citizens’ rights, complaints and other activities related to the tasks and purposes of the work of each party and thus contribute to the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms within the powers vested by legislations.
The International Ombudsman conference 2023 under the theme “The future of Human Rights in the 21st Century” is funded by the European Union. More than 70 Ombudsmen participated from different regions Asia, Europe, Africa and Middle East and shared the legal framework of Ombudsman in their own respective countries and their insights on protection of human rights.
Calling for nominations for the local government election will begin today (18) in the morning.
It is scheduled to end on January 21 at 12.00 noon.
Political parties and independent groups have been given time till 12.00 noon on January 20 for this election.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, (CPA) Mr. Stephen Twigg who arrived in the island the 10 th of January, met with Hon. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Speaker of Parliament.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, (CPA) Mr. Stephen Twigg visited Parliament and met with the Hon. Speaker and other high officials for cordial discussions last Friday (13) in Parliament.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association during his visit to Parliament also met with Hon. (Dr.) Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Education and Leader of the House of Parliament. A separate discussion was also held with Member of Parliament Hon. Yadamini Gunawardena and State Minister Hon. (Dr.) Suren Raghavan.
During the discussions held, Secretary General Mr. Stephen Twigg made a special emphasis on the CPA Parliamentary Academy which was initiated as a central learning hub for Commonwealth Parliamentarians and parliamentary officials and stated that the purpose of the said initiation has extended to anyone who wishes to learn about Parliaments and key thematic topics. Moreover, Mr. Twigg elaborated on the importance of extending women representation in Parliaments across the Commonwealth Parliaments.
Mr. Stephen Twigg, accompanied by Ms. Emily Davies, Head of Strategy and Engagement of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association also met with the Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake, Chief of Staff and Deputy Secretary-General of Parliament Ms. Kushani Rohanadheera and Assistant Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Tikiri Jayathilaka for a cordial discussion followed by a special tour around Parliament.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association also met with senior officials of the Parliament staff and discussed future opportunities and areas of improvements.
ECONOMYNEXT – Debt re-structuring talks with India and China are successful, President Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament as the country is trying get an International Monetary Fund bailout.
“I can tell this assembly that the talks are successful,” President Wickremesinghe told parliament.
“Very soon we will have an answer.”
Sri Lanka has raised taxes and tightened spending to bring a wide budget deficit and unsustainable debt under control. Formal assurances that creditors are willing to re-structure debt has to be given.
State Minister for Finance Shehan Semasinghe said Sri Lanka is expecting to get executive board approval for an International Monetary Fund program by March.
“The President, the Finance Ministry, the central bank and line ministries have done a lot of work,” he said.
“The good results of that work is coming. We have done a lot of work on financial assurances.”
A high level delegation of China’s Communist Party (CPC), led by Vice Minister Chen Zhou, Head of the CPC International Department called on Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on January 16.
“Sri Lanka is a very special friend of China and we are considering how we could assist Sri Lanka to get over the current crisis,” Chen Zhou was quoted as saying.
“You will have some good news soon.”
The Hon. speaker endorsed the first Bill of the year 2023 yesterday(17). Accordingly, the Speaker endorsed the certificate on Recovery of Possession of Premises Given on the Lease Bill.
This Bill entails provisions to make arrangements regarding the procedure for recovery of possession of leased premises under a lease agreement, to formalize the recovery of arrears of tax installments, money service charges and quantified losses, and to make arrangements for matters connected or incidental thereto. The said Bill was passed in Parliament on January 5th.
Accordingly, given the endorsement on the certificate on Recovery of Possession of Premises Given on Lease Bill, the stated shall come to effect as the Recovery of Possession of Premises Given on Lease” Act, No. 1 of 2023 from January (17).
