External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar says that the relationship between India and China was going through an “extremely difficult phase” after what Beijing had done at the border and emphasised that the Asian Century would not happen if the two neighbours could not join hands.

He made the remarks while responding to a series of questions after delivering a lecture on ‘India’s Vision of the Indo-Pacific’ at the prestigious Chulalongkorn University recently .

Responding to a question, Mr. Jaishankar said that the Asian Century would happen when China and India come together but it would be difficult to happen if India and China could not come together.

“At the moment [the India-China] relationship is going through an extremely difficult phase after what China did at the border,” he said.

Chinese and Indian troops are engaged in a prolonged standoff in eastern Ladakh. The two sides have so far held 16 rounds of Corps Commander Level talks to resolve the standoff which erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake areas.

“I think if India and China have to come together, there are many reasons to do so, not necessarily only Sri Lanka,” he said, adding that it was in the own interest of India and China to join hands.

“We very much hope that wisdom dawns on the Chinese side,” the External Affairs Minister said while replying to another question from the audience.

Mr. Jaishankar said India had done the best of its abilities to assist Sri Lanka. This year alone India had extended $3.8 billion of support to Sri Lanka, including line of credits and swap arrangements, he said.

“Any help we can give to Sri Lanka at the IMF [International Monetary Fund] that we will naturally do,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

On the issue of Rohingya refugees, he said the issue had been discussed with Bangladesh. “What matters for them is repatriation. We have been supportive of Bangladesh,” he said.

Currently, Bangladesh is hosting more than 1 million Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar following a military operation against them a few years ago.

Responding to another question, the External Affairs Minister dismissed criticism for importing discounted Russian oil, saying India was not the only oil importing country.

The U.S. and European nations have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.

India has raised oil imports from Russia after the Ukraine war despite criticism from the West and continues to engage with Moscow for business.

Mr. Jaishankar, who co-chaired the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting with his Thai counterpart and Deputy Prime Minister Don Pramudwinai on Wednesday during which they discussed advancing bilateral contacts in political, economic, security and defence, connectivity and health domains

Sri Lanka plantation sector stakeholders are demanding the government to rescue the main three export crop industry specialty tea devastated by the previous regimes“100% organic agriculture”,the most unscientific experiment ever attempted in local history.

As a result of this overnig stupid and arrogant decision of former president Gotabya Rajapaksa ousted by the people,Agricultural productivity in Export crops has dropped by 20%.

While export values of tea and rubber have increased, volumes have plummeted by 20% and 30% respectively. Had the country been able to maintain production at pre-fertilizer ban levels, an additional export earnings of US$240 Million could have been saved from plantation-related exports.

Moving forward, the present administration needs to appoint a Sectoral Task force – made up of credible industry experts, whom the Government must consult, particularly when formulating policy decisions that have the potential to impact the entire agriculture sector, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai ormer Chairman of the Planters’ Association of Ceylon said

Failure to do so even at this late juncture will risk even further irreversible damage being done to our industry and the millions of lives that are impacted by it, he added. .

This means that the Government in particular needs to commit to a strict regime of evidence-based policy at all times.

If drastic policy adjustments are required, the Government has to take a consultative approach, seek out balanced and credible opinions, and obtain broad approval from stakeholders, he claimed. .

With this common agreement in place, the plantation sector stakeholders can finally begin to bring together the best minds in respective export crop industries and work in partnership towards developing a viable roadmap for a sustainable path to a true Sri Lankan economic renaissance.

As Sri Lanka’s first true export industry, the stakeholders believe the Sri Lankan plantation industry should be the first to take up this challenge, he pointed out.

For over a decade, the plantation industry has painstakingly sought to articulate what the plantation sector requires to move forward. At present, the consensus is that reforms, investment, and knowledge sharing are most needed in the industry are in the areas of:

Sustainable, progressive productivity-linked wages that benefit workers and companies
Agricultural and operational best practices
Research and development towards greater local value addition
Factory, and supply chain modernization
Implementation of a consistent, science-based national agriculture policy framework

special market opening ceremony was organized by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) under the patronage of Mr. Viraj Dayaratne, President’s Counsel, Chairman of the SEC, to mark the third phase of digitalization of the Sri Lankan Capital Market .

A joint committee was formed by the Chairman of the SEC, Mr. Viraj Dayaratne, with the objective of identifying measures and mechanisms required for the Colombo Stock Market to conduct its core activities digitally.

The committee comprised representatives from the SEC and the CSE and has worked towards converting paper-based statements to electronic forms.

The committee launched a transformative digital offering through the CSE Mobile App, an end-to-end digital onboarding and online account opening feature. In the third phase, the committee explored avenues to bring in investments from retail investors living outside of Sri Lanka.

It has developed infrastructure to offer convenient registration and investment opportunities to these foreign investors. Fourteen new features were also introduced as part of the third phase of Digitalization.

CSE Chairman, Dilshan Wirasekara, while welcoming all those presented said that the CSE is looking forward to its journey ahead, in terms of broadening the organization and truly living up to its vision of creating wealth and value and stressed that the CSE would not just develop the market but also work as a partner to develop the country in the face of the existing economic crisis.

Chairman SEC/CSE Joint Committee for Digitalization Naresh Abeysekera, said, “Today this digital interface is not only operating the capital market but has changed the entire digital landscape of the capital market industry. It’s a remarkable feat we achieved”.

Stating the Committee’s achievement with pride, he also mentioned, today 220,000+ CSE Mobile Apps have been downloaded by users, and it’s a great platform for potential investors.

“We created a new potential age group; 18-40 years old, and 18-40-year olds make up 92 percent of this entire new base. Previously, it was more towards 50 plus. Thus, with regard to market sustenance, asset sustenance, and market growth, it’s a new base and a note on more investors coming into the market. “

Mentioning the developments of a Central Counter Party System (CCP), CSE CEO, Rajeeva Bandaranaike, said that to continue to broad base the capital market, it is needed to ensure that the overall systematic risk in the market is managed, and to do that, we need to manage and minimise the risk of default by buyers and sellers, and a CCP is the mechanism to do this effectively.

SEC Chairman, Mr. Viraj Dayaratne PC stated that “The market could not be opened for trading with the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020, since not every function of the market could be carried out without a physical presence.

He added that the need to digitalize end-to-end operations of the market was badly felt and as a result a joint committee of the SEC and CSE was appointed to carry out the digitalization initiative.”