A special gazette notice has been issued appointing K.D.N. Ranjith Asoka as the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government.
The gazette announcement states that the appointment is effective from March 21.
The former secretary of that ministry, Neil Bandara Hapuhinna, was suddenly transferred to the President’s Secretariat.
It is reported that the decision to give a three-month service extension to Inspector General of Police CD Wickramaratne has been referred to the Constitutional Council for approval.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe has forwarded this decision to the Constitutional Council.
It is said that the Constitutional Council is scheduled to meet tomorrow (01) and will consider this matter.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): China is pushing Sri Lanka towards the signing of China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed this year 2023 while there are many issues to be resolved in the agreement, Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Dr. Palitha Kohana claimed.
Sri Lanka is under pressure to sign the FTA following the assurance given by the Chinese Exim Bank for the restructure of the country’s debt for the unlocking of US$ 2.9 billion IMF bail out loan recently.
He noted that Sri Lanka is ensuring that certain safeguards are incorporated into the FTA to protect various local sectors as China is the second largest economy in the world.
He further noted that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has clearly stated his intent to have this FTA concluded in 2023.
Sri Lanka’s ongoing debt crisis has caught the attention of major global players, including China, which has been keenly interested in helping the island nation restructure its debt.
Since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009, China has extended numerous loans to the country for various infrastructure projects, including a port, an airport, highways, and other significant projects.
Sri Lanka owed Chinese lenders $7.4 billion – nearly a fifth of its public external debt – by the end of last year, calculations by the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) shows.
However, concerns have been raised about the nature of China’s financial assistance and the motivations behind its debt restructuring efforts several economic experts disclosed arguing that China’s aid is part of a broader strategy to extend its economic and political influence in the region.
Their aim was to place Sri Lanka serving as a key location for China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The Sino-SL FTA is set to open up new markets for Chinese businesses while providing Sri Lankan businesses with access to China’s vast consumer market.
However, an eminent expert argues that the deal would be heavily favourable for China allowing it to export Chinese goods into Sri Lanka affecting the country’s domestic industries.
He noted that China’s efforts to push for the FTA may be part of a broader strategy to gain greater influence over Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s growing economic dependence on China may lead the country towards falling into a debt trap that could threaten its economic sovereignty, he claimed.
To address these concerns, Sri Lanka has been seeking to diversify its economic ties, exploring new opportunities for economic partnerships with other countries in the region while seeking to renegotiate its debt agreements with China, with some suggesting that the country reduce its dependence on Chinese loans.
One of the potential disadvantages of signing the FTA with China is the risk of job losses as the Sri Lanka’s labour-intensive industries, such as textiles and apparel, could face increased competition from cheaper Chinese imports, leading to potential job losses in these sectors.
Another disadvantage of signing an FTA with China is the risk lowered regulatory standards. As part of the FTA negotiations, Sri Lanka could be required to harmonize its regulatory regime with China.
Signing an FTA with China could lead to a loss of policy autonomy for Sri Lanka as it could be required to abide by certain rules and regulations set forth in the FTA, potentially limiting its ability to pursue certain policies in areas such as trade, labor standards, and the environment.
By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): French Development Agency (AFD) has stepped into support Sri Lanka’s efforts of enhancing effective air quality monitoring and reporting in the island.
An agreement was signed yesterday (30) between the country director of the French Development Agency (AFD) M. Reda Souirgi and Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Environment in Sri Lanka in presence of the Ambassador of France to Sri Lanka, Jean-François Pactet and the Minister of Environment of the Government of Sri Lanka,. Naseer Ahamed.
They signed a 300,000 EUR grant agreement supporting improved monitoring and reporting of air quality in Sri Lanka. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and National Building Research Organization (NBRO) officials were also present at the event.
Air pollution remains a critical issue for cities such as Colombo and Kandy, as for many other major cities in the developing world. In comparison to some of its regional counterparts such as Delhi and Dhaka,
Sri Lanka still has a fairly good Air Quality Index. However, year on year it is evident that Air quality is becoming a more prevalent issue.
Each year, Sri Lanka suffers from seasonal air pollution events, generally imported from the Indian continent and exacerbated by its own pollution generating activities.
The most recent being in January 2023, when NBRO declared dangerous levels of air quality in several parts of the country.
The COVID-19 travel restriction and the most recent fuel crisis in 2022 gave city dwellers a rare opportunity to witness their city with a high level of air quality and good breathable air.
Air Quality is an important development indicator. Indeed, air pollution has high economic and social costs and overall impact on the general well-being and standard of living of city inhabitants.
First, it comes with high human cost as it leads to higher cases of Asthma, lung disease and various other respiratory diseases.
This creates an economic burden on the health sector and reduces the overall productivity of the general population. Good air quality is also an important indicator of the attractiveness of a city, and boosting the overall competitiveness and image of a city in this global economy.
Worldwide, the economic cost of air pollution is estimated $2.9 trillion per year (3.3% of world’s GDP), while it is linked to 4.5 million premature deaths annually.
Accordingly, the issue needs to be addressed in an objective and systematic way. Air pollution is not a new topic for Sri Lanka; far ahead of its regional counterparts, various indicators such as PM10, NOx, SOx, ozone and CO have been monitored for more than twenty years.
Two new monitoring stations, managed by the CEA, were installed in 2019 near Colombo, at Battaramulla, and in Kandy.
Meanwhile, monthly concentrations of NO2 and SO2 have been measured in 25, different places in and around Colombo, using passive sampling techniques by the NBRO. However, the country is still lacking consolidated data and facing discrepancies among different sources, preventing from accurate reporting and information dissemination. Despite the existence of data sources, finding the Air Quality Index for Colombo remains particularly difficult, and the most frequently cited data are generally from unreliable sources.
Sri Lanka has fallen further in the index of countries with the highest inflation in the world prepared by Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at John Hawking University in America.
Accordingly, Sri Lanka has left the first page of the inflation index this time.
Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka was ranked 18th on the index.
10 months ago, in May 2022, Sri Lanka was in the second position in the index. At that time, only Zimbabwe had higher inflation than Sri Lanka.
Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has published a data chart of the profit received by the government from the sale of each type of fuel following the fuel price revision made on 29th.
According to the note, the profit is 1.63 rupees per liter of octane 92 petrol and 1.15 rupees per liter of octane 95 petrol, 4 cents per liter of Lanka Auto Diesel, 2.26 rupees per liter of super diesel and 2.66 rupees per liter of kerosene.
Below is the note which includes the amount of tax levied by the government on fuel.
The exhibition by Sujith Rathnayake, titled Crisis & Struggle, held at the Lionel Wendt Colombo, in February this year will be showcased in Kandy starting from 2 April.
Colombo (LNW): The exhibition will be open to the public from 2 April to 2 June 2023 at the gallery space of Atelier Kandy, Siebel Place Circular Road, Peradeniya Road, Kandy.
Born in 1971 in south of Sri Lanka Sujith received Bachelor of Fine Arts from Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Since then, he has been a force in the art realm fearlessly addressing the discontent of the people and giving a voice to the unheard as well as to create a language for the voiceless. He has always tried not only to bring their political speech to the fore, but to make the world cognizant of hard truths associated with the downtrodden.
Sujith Rathnayake held his first solo exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Gallery in 1999 and since then, he has held 11 solo exhibitions. In 2000, Sujith was selected for the first resident art program at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan. It’s a pride to also note that one of his artworks titled ‘Wounds for Sale’ has been added to the permanent art collection of the Museum. He has participated in many national and international group exhibitions, workshops, camps, triennial and biennial art festivals.
High Commissioner Veluppillai Kananathan presented the Letter of Credence appointing him as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Gabonese Republic with residence in Kenya to the President of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba at the State House in Libreville on 28 March 2023. During the private meeting that followed the official ceremony, the President and the High Commissioner exchanged views on the need to promote relations under the recently established diplomatic relations between the two countries in many areas of cooperation, especially in trade, investment, and other economic activities, to reach their true potential.
At the outset, President Ondimba requested the High Commissioner to convey his greetings to his Sri Lankan counterpart, President Ranil Wickremesinghe and said that he was looking forward to developing close ties with him to bring the two countries together for pragmatic cooperation for mutual benefit.
High Commissioner Kananathan explained to President Ondimba that the current government headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe attached significance to Sri Lanka’s relations with Africa and wanted to strengthen its cooperation individually with countries in the region and collectively through the African Union and other sub-regional organizations.
As members of the global south, the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), High Commissioner Kananathan highlighted that Sri Lanka and Gabon share common views on global issues and issues of mutual interest to the two countries at the multilateral forums such as the United Nations Organization and its agencies. He also said that Sri Lanka appreciated the support extended by the Gabonese Republic to Sri Lanka at the international forums and looked forward to consolidating such valuable support to strengthen bilateral relations. President Ondimba while affirming the High Commissioner’s views said that the ties between the two countries should go beyond bilateral relations to close cooperation in the multilateral forums on global issues such as peace and security, the protection of the environment, sustainable development, and the fight against climate change.
President Ondimba further said that there was huge potential to develop economic cooperation between the two countries in trade, investment, agriculture, economic and technical cooperation, and many other areas, to inject impetus into bilateral relations. The President added that he was resolutely engaged in diversifying the economy of the Gabonese Republic under an ambitious Transformation Acceleration Plan (PAT). He invited Sri Lankans to visit the Special Investment Zones as well as look at other opportunities to consider the prospects of investing in Gabon, especially in the mining industry, particularly mining of deposits of manganese and iron ore, as well as other areas such as the timber industry, agriculture, etc., exploiting the most beneficial and lucrative terms and conditions presented for FDIs in Gabon. The President of Gabon also invited Sri Lankans to engage in the most gainful trade and business activities in diverse areas, for which plenty of opportunities are within reach.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the President, while wishing the High Commissioner every success in promoting bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Gabon, assured him of the Gabonese government’s fullest support and cooperation towards that end.
High Commissioner Kananathan also had a series of meetings in Gabon with ministers and officials, which included the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hermann Immongault; the Minister of Energy and Hydraulic Resources Oswald Severin Mayounou; the Minister of Mines and Geology Elvis Ossinji; the Minister of Fisheries Biendi Maganga-Moussavou; the Minister of Agriculture Charles Mve Ella and the Director General of the National Investment Promotion Agency of Gabon (ANPI-GABON) Steeves Tsounghat. All these meetings mainly focused on potential investment opportunities for Sri Lankan investors in Gabon. The Minister of Fisheries, while remarking that Gabon’s tuna fish from the Atlantic Ocean is one of the best in the world, proposed that Sri Lankan investors consider investing in the construction of a tuna processing plant in Libreville. On the whole, the Ministers and authorities assured the High Commissioner of assistance and cooperation to promote Sri Lankan investments in Gabon and exploit the untapped and profitable areas of interest.
Gabon, a country along the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, is rich in natural resources. One of the most significant business opportunities in Gabon is in the mining industry. Gabon has large deposits of manganese, gold, iron, and timber resources, and the government is actively encouraging foreign investment in the mining sector. Gabon is also rich in oil and gas, which have traditionally been the country’s largest sources of revenue. Another promising sector for investment in Gabon is agriculture, which is promoted through agricultural development zones. Foreign investors can take advantage of these arrangements and related attractive policies by investing in agribusiness ventures, such as the processing and export of agricultural products.
High Commissioner Kananathan is currently serving as the resident High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Kenya and Permanent Representative to the UNEP and UN-HABITAT in Nairobi, as well as being concurrently accredited to twenty-one countries in the region.
High Commission of Sri Lanka
Nairobi
29 March 2023
The time period given for expatriates workers to import electric vehicles further extended – Other people who bring dollars to the country are also given the opportunity to obtain such vehicle import licenses
Colombo (LNW): Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara said that the period given to import electric vehicles to foreign workers depending on their remittances will be extended until August this year.
He also said a mechanism will be prepared to give electric vehicle import licenses to other people who bring dollars to the country on a private basis.
While participating in an event organized by the Overland Automobile Institute, the Minister said that the period for issuing licenses to foreign workers depending on their remittances was limited from May to December 31 last year and that period will be extended to August.
The minister addressing the gathering said:
Everyone has forgotten where our country was by March last year. Just like there were fuel queues a year ago, there are may be queues today as well. Owners of fuel stations do not order fuel because they think that the prices will decrease. It is good to remember that there were fuel queues in the past. It is also good to remember that people have been in the dark in the past, for eight to ten hours without electricity. But now there are no power cuts. There are no fuel queues on the roads. There is no problem with medicine. By March, April and May last year, there was a situation where it was impossible to run the vehicle with a full tank of fuel.
Many people left the country. This country had become an unlivable country without law and order. Large scale businessmen took their businesses to countries like Dubai. The exporters did not bring the money that the country deserved. The country fell into an abyss. It was then that we accepted the challenge to revive this country. We took responsibility. We came up with a program to bring dollars to the country. We took measures to bring benefits to migrant workers.
Expatriate workers did not send dollars to the country because they had trust issues and because they can get enhanced currency rates by sending money through illegal methods such as Undiyal. To change that, we arranged to grant licenses for the import of electric vehicles to expatriate workers. When this proposal was brought, the cabinet fully supported it.
A decision has not yet been taken in our country to import only electric vehicles. But as a government, we are determined to go for renewable energy and green energy sources. As a government, our policy is that it is better to import only electric vehicles.. It has been decided that all the vehicles bought for the state sector will be electric vehicles only in the future.
When permission was given to foreign workers to import electric vehicles as a pilot project, we met many people and got their opinions and submitted them to relevant officials. Although the Ministers, took forthright decisions without delay some officials who are stuck in their traditional thinking modes delayed implementing the process.
There, the President and the cabinet gave approvals to move forward with this decision without delay.
When foreign workers were given permission to import electric vehicles, some said that this was another political gimmick. This government does not endorse populist politics. That’s why taxes were increased in anticipation of giving concessions when possible to all citizens. Interest rates have decreased. Today, the fuel distribution is being diversified. By doing the right thing, we have got the ability to reciprocate the work done by expatriate workers. The opportunity to import vehicles for expatriate workers was limited from May 1st to December 31st last year. We are making relevant amendments so that those who have sent money legally to the country can import vehicles until the end of August this year. Cabinet approval will be obtained for that. Also, if there are people who bring dollars to the country privately, they will also be given permission to import electric vehicles.
