The Presidential Secretariat last night said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would deliver a 15 minute statement today (16) at 8.30 pm.
The President’s address to the nation will be broadcast on all electronic channels and on the President’s official Facebook page.
It was reported that no power cuts will occur in any part of the island during that period.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has approved the Ceylon Electricity Board’s request for power interruptions for tomorrow (March 16).
Thereby, the areas listed under groups A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L will experience power cuts of two hours and 30 minutes between 8.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m.
The aforementioned areas will again experience power outages of one hour between 6.00 p.m. and 11.00 p.m.
Meanwhile, the electricity supply for the areas mentioned under groups P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W will be interrupted for a period of three hours between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.
These areas will experience night time power cuts for two hours and 30 minutes between 5.30 p.m. and 11.00 p.m.
The Ceylon Petroleum Private Tanker Owners’ Association has decided to remove the bowsers transporting fuel from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation from midnight yesterday (15).
They are protesting against the failure to increase adequate transport fares.
Co-Secretary of the Association Shantha Silva of the Ceylon Petroleum (CPT) private tanker owners says that they have asked the CPC to increase transportation fees by 60% in the face of rising diesel prices and the appreciation of the US dollar – but they have only increased the tariff by 17% considering the increase in diesel prices.
He said that although the CPC had been informed that the increase in tariffs was not sufficient due to the increase in not only the price of diesel but also other expenses against the US dollar, there was no solution given by the CPC. He said that the decision to withdraw from the oil transport business was taken at the Central Committee meeting of his association held last evening.
About 800 private bowsers have been deployed for the CPC’s fuel transport operations and there was a decrease in the number of bowsers arriving at Kolonnawa yesterday as well. As a result, it was reported that the Ceypetco filling stations could not be refueled as scheduled yesterday.
Finance Minister Basil Rajapksa left the Island for India for a two day official tour on Tuesday 15 following his meeting with IMF Asia and Pacific Department Director Changyong Rhee.
He was accompanied by Finance Ministry Secretary S.R Artygalle keeping the treasury virtually headless for couple of days, official sources said.
The aim of their New Delhi visit to sign the agreement to obtain a loan facility of US$.1 billion to purchase essential food items, medicinal drugs and other commodities.
This visit was postponed twice as the Indian side was not ready to receive the Sri Lankan Finance Minister as New Delhi authorities were making preliminary arrangements for the official tour at that time.
Measures will be taken to formalise India’s economic relief package for the island nation facing a serious forex crisis during this visit,.a senior Finance Ministry official said.
This will be Mr. Rajapaksa’s second visit to New Delhi in two months.In January, India announced a $ 900 million loan to Sri Lanka to build up its depleted foreign reserves and for food imports, he added
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar earlier in January held a virtual meeting with Basil where the two ministers reviewed the progress in extending the Indian credit facility of USD 1 billion for importing food, essential items and medicine.
India provided more than USD 500 million in foreign currency swaps to strengthen Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves, taking the total up to USD 900 million. India also extended the repayment time frame for the USD 500 million debt of Sri Lanka under the Asian Clearance Arbitration.
The island nation ha s to repay about USD 4 billion in foreign debt this year.The decision to engage with the IMF comes following months of resistance from the government despite calls from Opposition leaders and experts for a recovery plan.
Moreover, Sri Lanka’s forex reserves have depleted to 2.3 billion US dollars by February 2022.
Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka have agreed to strengthen bilateral relations with a focus on economic cooperation, following the inaugural visit of the Kingdom’s foreign minister to the South Asian country on Monday.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan met President Goatabaya Rajapksa and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister , G.L. Peiris, in Colombo as part of his trip to the island nation.
Officials said the prince’s visit was the first by a Saudi foreign minister to Sri Lanka on a bilateral level.
Saudi Arabia is ready to assist Sri Lanka with renewable energy generation, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said. He said this at talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo Monday
The President had informed the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister that he would like to invite Saudi Arabia to make direct investments in several sectors.
The President pointed out the opportunities available for foreign investment in the sectors of agriculture, renewable energy generation, and technology based development and at the Colombo Port City.
Prince Al Saud was briefed on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Sri Lankan economy. The President also pointed out the impact of low remittances, the collapse of the tourism industry, the impact of dry weather on hydropower generation and the rising demand for fuel.
The Saudi Foreign Minister said that his country was also paying special attention to renewable energy generation and that they are ready to assist Sri Lanka in this sector.
The Saudi and Sri Lankan Foreign Ministers and Sri Lankan Foreign Ministers alos agreed to strengthen relations “on a multitude of areas of bilateral interest for mutual benefit,” the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“We want to transform Sri Lanka-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations into a results-oriented, multi-faceted partnership,” Peiris said.
Saudi Arabia also stressed its commitment to “further deepen the already buoyant bilateral relations between the two countries,” and “emphasized economic cooperation” during the meeting, the statement said.
“Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 is meant to transform Saudi Arabia from the present dependency on oil to a digital economy in the Middle East region,” Prince Faisal said, referring to the Kingdom’s plan to diversify the economy.
Trade relations between Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka are currently based on two commodities — tea and petroleum — and were worth $82 million in 2020.
Prince Faisal also met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa during his visit.
The President and the Saudi Foreign Minister also discussed further strengthening of bilateral relations in a number of areas.
Sri Lankan Justice Minister Ali Sabry, who was part of the welcoming party for the prince, said that Monday’s talks were focused on trade and investment as well as plans for high-level visits.
“The bilateral trade and investment is small in number and this has to be developed with new areas of cooperation,” Sabry, who previously served as Colombo’s consul general in Jeddah, said
The South Asian nation is also keen to provide more skilled workers to Saudi Arabia and encourage tourists from the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has funded a number of infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, including Kinniya Bridge — the country’s longest — and a trauma care center at the National Hospital, with the help of more than $600 million in soft loans from the Saudi Fund for Development.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Packeer Mohindeem Amza said he was optimistic Prince Faisal’s visit would improve relations between the two countries.
High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India Milinda Moragoda met with the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs of India Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, 10 March at the Ministry of Urban Affairs in New Delhi.
High Commissioner Moragoda thanked Minister Puri for the assistance that India has provided to Sri Lanka as envisaged under the four-pillars of cooperation, agreed during the visit of Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa to India in December last year, in particular the USD 500 million line of credit to purchase petroleum products. Additional assistance too has been provided by India to enhance Sri Lanka’s petroleum stocks.
High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda also briefed Minister Puri on the challenges that Sri Lanka is currently facing as regards to the supply and distribution of petroleum products and their impact on the country’s energy sector. The High Commissioner and the Minister discussed modalities through which India and Sri Lanka could further expand cooperation in the petroleum sector to help overcome the present crisis.
The discussion also focused on a range of issues pertaining to the energy sector, including ways and means through which Sri Lanka could establish long-term strategic ties in the petroleum, oil, gas and related logistics sectors.
Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was a distinguished career diplomat prior to joining politics. He had served at the High Commission of India in Colombo during the period 1984-1988.
The ordination of first ever Austrian national was held in Austria on 6 March 2022 at the Dhamma-Zentrum Nyanaponika in Austria. Most Ven. Dr. Wijayarajapura Seelawansa Thero, the founder and the Chief Incumbent of the Dhamma-Zentrum Nyanaponika in Austria ordained Mr. Markus Pastollnigg, an Austrian national as Ven. Suseela Thero of Austria. The Maha Sanga from Italy, France and Sri Lanka conducted the ritual of ascetic traditions.
The Ambassador and the staff of the Embassy, family members of Mr. Pastollnigg, memebrs of the Sri Lankan community and Austrian devotees attended the ceremony.
While appreciating the valued contribution of the Most Venerable Dr. Wijayarajapura Seelawansa Thero to the advancement of Buddhism over the past 40 years, Ambassador Majintha Jayesinghe went on to state that conducting the first, age-old custom of ordination in Austria, would further strengthen traditionally close, friendly and special relations between the two countries.
Following the ceremony, heel dana was offered to the Maha Sangha.
Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Vienna
The delegation from Sri Lanka that attended the 49th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. G.L. Peiris and comprised of Minister of Justice Ali Sabry, State Minister of Production Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Dr. Channa Jayasumana, Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage and Additional Solicitor General Nerin Pulle.
The 49th session of the Human Rights Council was held in the backdrop of a written update on Sri Lanka which was to be presented to the Council by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in pursuance of resolution 46/1 which was adopted in March 2021, without the consent of Sri Lanka as the country concerned and with only 22 of the 47 Council members voting in favour of it.
Operative Paragraph 6 of this resolution set a very dangerous precedent by requiring the Office of the High Commissioner to take on the role of collecting criminal evidence with a view to future prosecution. Due to its fundamentally flawed nature, even countries that voted in favour of resolution 46/1, in their ‘explanation of the vote’ expressed reservations regarding this new task assigned to the Office of the High Commisisoner for Human Rights (OHCHR) which is not consistent with its founding document General Aseembly resolution 48/141.
The OHCHR has now established a “Sri Lanka Accountability Project” citing resolution 46/1, in a situation where the language of OP6 in resolution 46/1 only sought to “strengthen the capacity of the OHCHR to collect, consolidate, analyse and preserve…evidence.” Thus, what was supposed to be only an internal capacity building exercise within the OHCHR has arbitrarily been elevated to the level of a project and listed with other external mechanisms of the UNHRC.
Furthermore, all this adversarial action is taking place in Geneva at a time when the Government of Sri Lanka is vigorously engaged in initiating and implementing a series of national processes aimed at advancing reconciliation and human rights for all our people. In this context, it was important for Sri Lanka to explain to the stakeholders in Geneva, including to the Council, UN Member States and other relevant actors, Sri Lanka’s position on this matter and to present before them the significant progress that Sri Lanka has achieved in this regard amidst COVID-19 related challenges.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed the High Level Segment of HRC49 on 1 March, 2022 highlighting Sri Lanka’s longstanding profile as an active participant in the multilateral framework, the national constitutional, legal and institutional frameworks that are in place to realize human rights, including the right to development and Sri Lanka’s achievements in this regard. The Minister also stressed the importance of the HRC being guided by the principles of impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of Member States and raised objections to punitive, politicized, divisive, unhelpful actions initiated due to extraneous reasons.
Foreign Minister Peiris also made a statement on behalf of Sri Lanka as the country concerned at the interactive dialogue that followed the introduction of the written update on Sri Lanka on 4 March, 2022, pointing out among other things, that resolution 46/1 on Sri Lanka was directly contrary to the founding principles of the HRC. He also pointed out to the Council, elements of the High Commissioner’s written update that were discriminatory and intrusive.
At the Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s written update, Sri Lanka received cross-regional support and solidarity from a large number of countries of the Global South, who appreciated the Government’s significant efforts towards reconciliation and reiterated the importance of objective and constructive cooperation as the fundamental basis for multilateral engagement. Of the 45 countries that delivered statements at the interactive dialogue, 31 spoke in support of Sri Lanka. These speakers represented a broad spectrum of states from South, South East and Central Asia, Latin America and the Africa.
The 31 countries that spoke in favour of Sri Lanka at the interactive dialogue were Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Philippines, Nepal, Kenya, Ethiopia, Maldives, China, Cuba, Japan, Syrian Arab Republic, Viet Nam, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Venezuela, Nigeria, Pakistan, Cambodia, the Russian Federation, Lebanon, Uganda, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, South Sudan, Lao PDR, Yemen, Iran, Niger, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan.
In addition, in its statement at the General Debate on Item 2 that followed the interactive dialogue on Sri Lanka, South Korea also recognized Sri Lanka’s efforts at reconciliation and at initiating legal reforms.
The interventions from the States of the Global South recognised Sri Lanka’s commitment to promoting reconciliation and human rights through national processes including through legislative reform and the progress achieved in this regard despite COVID-19 related challenges. They also underscored the importance of the Human Rights Council and the international community supporting voluntary national processes, as well as upholding the core principles of impartiality, non-selectivity and non-politicisation.
Among the matters stressed by the intervenient delegations were concerns over the micro-management of Sri Lanka’s internal, constitutional and governance matters and the imperative of strict adherence to the provisions of the UN Charter and relevant UNGA and HRC resolutions. It was also stressed that cooperation with international, human rights mechanisms should be without any external pressure from outside, with states having the power to determine their priorities and areas for international assistance and that only cooperative action will be truly effective and contribute to the real strengthening of human rights in a country.
Certain intervenient delegations also disagreed with the role being set for the OHCHR in collecting evidence, noting that the decision of the OHCHR to establish an “accountability project” is a breach of its mandate. The exorbitant cost of this mandate, in the region of US$ 3 million, was also commented on.
The delegation from Colombo held bi-lateral meetings with the following foreign delegations on the sidelines of HRC49 listed in the order in which they took place.
In addition to the above, State Minister of Production Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana held the following bi-laterals meetings with:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Colombo
The Samagi Jana Balaweagaya staged a protest in Colombo today (15) under the theme ‘Let’s save the country from destruction’.
The protest was started at 2.00 pm, and a group including the Samagi Sevaka Sangamaya, Samagi Vanitha Balawegaya, civil society organizations and university lecturers participated in the protest.
The leader of the Samagi Jana Balawega Sajith Premadasa had decided to go to the Presidential Secretariat with hundreds of thousands of people who are coming to protest in Colombo today under the leadership of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
Accordingly, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya has decided to gather the people coming to Colombo in two places and march towards the Presidential Secretariat from two directions.
One march will start from Maradana Technical Junction and the other will start near the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.
Photos: Ajith Seneviratne
The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) emphasized in response to a query made by LNW that there is no truth in the news published in an English newspaper that there are plans to remove him from the post.
Ajith Nivard Cabraal says that there is no truth in the news and the propaganda that there is a controversy between him and the Finance Minister is baseless.
He pointed out that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is already providing guidelines for an effective program to boost economic growth.
Meanwhile, Secretary to the President, Gamini Senarath also confirmed to LNW that there is no truth in the rumors that there are plans to remove the CBSL Governor from office.
